Remnant of an Iron Rose
by ptabs0101's brother
Summary: The Vex invasion had been thwarted but battle against the Darkness still wages on as its forces work to overthrow the Light from either behind the scenes or out in the open. Remnant faced a major change to its future as the Last City is plagued by the mistakes of its past. (Adopted by FireteamNero)
1. Let's Just Live

An: Here you go, my loyal readers. As promised, the sequel to Remnant of a Rose. I hope you'll enjoy this just as much as the previous installment.

But first off, there is a rule that I want to be strictly followed for guest reviewers. I don't make it a habit to reply to guest reviews so if the review is only asking a question instead of commenting on the story, it will be deleted. If you really want me to answer your inquiries, then please make your own account so I could answer them as long as they're not spoilers to the plot.

With that said, here's the first chapter of Rise of an Iron Rose, continuing where Remnant of a Rose left off.

Chapter 1

A blond unintentional heartthrob, an acoholic scythe-wielding Huntsman and a Light-imbued immortal warrior that also happened to be an android walked into a bar.

This sounded like the beginning of a bad joke but this was simply a description of what was currently happening for Taiyang Xiao Long, Qrow Branwen and Prometheus-23. It was quite a surreal sight to behold and even the first two mentioned were a little weirded out by the latter. Considering the fact that Remnant was at war with an alien race prior to their having met the Guardian, this was pretty much par for the course.

Fortunately, they didn't attract too much attention since the bar and the surrounding area was relatively abandoned. The bar also happened to be mostly intact so a majority of its stock was still in perfectly good condition.

Striding past the scattered tables and chairs, Qrow slid over the counter and he began to look through the bar's inventory of booze while Taiyang and Prometheus took their seats by the bar.

"Jackpot," the grey-haired Huntsmen smirked victoriously as he pulled out a bottle of top quality Mistralian scotch, "Been a while since I had the good stuff."

"Should a Huntsman like you be looting?" the Exo Titan inquired as he watched the drunkard remove the cork of the bottle with his teeth.

He wasn't really one to talk since he too enjoyed finding worthwhile loot on the field like his fellow Guardians but to be fair, the original owners of those loot were long gone by then while the owner of this establishment could be very much alive at the moment.

"The way I see it, it's only a matter of time before some poor scmucks clean this place out dry while the military's too busy to even care or stop them," the male Branwen reasoned as he sniffed the contents of the bottle to test the authenticity of its aroma. One whiff felt like it made his nose hairs shrivel up so he knew for sure that this scotch was legit, "It doesn't matter if we get to the good stuff first as long as we don't go overboard with the looting."

"Normally, I would disagree with you, Qrow," the elder Xiao Long spoke up as he got a shot glass and snatched the scotch from his partner's hand before pouring himself a shot, "But it's been a long day and it doesn't look like it's about to end anytime soon."

Having said his piece, Tai downed the shot in one go and immediately regretted as he went into a coughing fit from the burn that the drink left in his throat.

"Yeah, pretty good stuff, isn't?" Qrow grinned as he poured himself a shot of his own, "Say what you want about Mistral but they know how to make pretty good booze."

"Well, I'm not one to indulge in libations but I did kill a godlike entity earlier so I suppose I can make an exception this time," Prometheus shrugged before he too helped himself to a shot of scotch.

The two Huntsmen stared at the Exo in disbelief as he sipped the alcohol with no hesitation. They were half expecting the mechanical Guardian to suddenly short circuit only to be just fine to their amazement.

"I'm not really an expert when it comes to alcoholic beverages but I can certainly understand what you mean," Prometheus mused as he eyed the glass of scotch in his hand before he noticed that the other two were staring at him, "What?"

"How the hell are you still functioning?" Taiyang asked incredulousy while Qrow simply opted to down another shot.

Prometheus was confused by what the blonde man said so the brawler thought it was best to clarify it for him.

"I mean how are you able to drink that? Last I check, robots can't exactly eat or drink like people without experiencing some problems," he said before quickly adding, "Not that I don't consider you as people, that is."

The Xiao Long patriarch was still having problems wrapping his head around the concept of a fully sentient android that was also capable of generating an Aura but since this particular android literally saved his _cajones_ , he was willing to acknowledge the Guardian just like any other individual.

"Oh yes, I forgot that you're unfamiliar with Exos, which is what my kind are called by the way," Prometheus hummed in consideration, "We Exos are in fact quite capable of consumption like organics do and we also come equipped with all the standard five senses so we are not that detatched from non-synthetic lifeforms."

"There's even a subroutine that forces us to act drunk if we take in enough alcohol in our systems," the Exo Titan added as he took another sip from his scotch.

"The geeks that made ya really covered their bases, huh?" the scythe-wielder noted, having already finished the bottle of scotch before pulling out another one of the same brand from under the bar.

"Exos also do not suffer from hangovers so we could indulge ourselves as much as we want."

"Lucky bastard," Qrow mumbled from under his breath. He was feeling very envious of these Exo guys if they could experience all of the joys of being drunk without the bane of his existence, which was getting a hangover.

"But as I have previously stated, I am not much of a drinker."

"How about we change that?" the Black Reaper stated as he raised his glass while Taiyang did the same with his own glass, "To getting shitfaced drunk."

Shrugging his broad shoulders, Prometheus-23 clinked his glass and reluctantly chorused, "To getting shitfaced drunk."

The Titan had been told that he needed more male friends on more than one occasion and he heard that getting drunk with fellow males was a good way to make lifelong companions out of them so this could help him bond with the former teammates from Summer's previous life. It was also a chance to learn what Summer was like before she was resurrected.

Then again, it was Cayde-6 who gave him that advice so it might not be fully credible.

Thinking of the Hunter Vanguard also reminded Prometheus that his fellow Exo was the one with the most authority of the Guardians currently stationed on this planet so he was the most suitable to meet with the leaders of Remnant.

Even though the Exo Hunter earned his position fair and square, he was not anyone's first choice for a diplomatic mission nor was he their second choice. He was the third choice _at best_.

And right now, he was supposed to convince the Councils of Remnant to form a good relations with the Last City of Earth because Lord Shaxx was definitely not going to do it. Unlike the Crucible Master, Cayde actually had more experience with politics than the old Titan.

It still didn't alleviate Prometheus' worries though. There was a reason why Summer Rose was quite (as eloquently quoted by Lux Sylphid) 'the no-good, trouble-making little shit that you just want to throttle'. It was because Cayde rarely did anything to quell the young Hunter's many eccentricities and there was even several occasions where he openly encouraged them, which spurred her on.

It was a severe understatement to say that Cayde-6 was a bad example for an impressionable young Guardian like Summer to emulate.

Well, Prometheus now had a perfectly good reason to intoxicate himself on alcohol at least. That was something, right?

00000

Contrarily to what most Guardians believed, Cayde was actually taking things seriously as regards to establishing close ties to Remnant. There was still one loose end that he had to tie up before meeting with the Councils of Remnant.

And that was a certain young Hunter talking animatedly with two teenaged girls. The younger girl was dressed in red and black while the elder wore mostly yellow garbs. In case anyone didn't know who he was referring to, he was talking about Summer Rose.

"I'm gonna go meet with the head honchos," the Hunter Vanguard informed his protégé, Summer Rose after her reunion with her daughters (still felt weird to say), "Can I trust you to stay out of trouble for the next few hours?"

The White Rose took on a look of deep contemplation as her mental gears grinded against each other to produce the best answer.

"Define trouble?" she asked in a tone that left no doubt that she was completely serious with her question.

"…Right, should've expected that," Cayde sighed in exasperation as he searched through his pouches, "Time for plan B."

The horned Exo took out an apple-sized ball of red yarn and held it out before him. Summer and Ruby stilled at the sight of the small mundane item as their silver eyes stared at him with rapt attention.

"Here's a ball of yarn," he redundantly added before tossing the aforementioned object over his shoulder, "Go nuts."

Cayde was not surprised by the swirl of white rose petals that drifted towards the direction he threw the ball of yarn but he _was_ taken aback by the _red_ rose petals that drifted towards the same direction as its white counterpart.

"Hey, let go! It's mine!"

"No, I saw it first!"

"Like heck you did!"

With blank faces, Yang Xiao Long and Cayde-6 turned to see mother and daughter wrestling each other in a bid to get the ball of yarn, not caring what or who got caught up in their quarrel as their bodies rolled around the courtyard. Several benches and even some people were knocked aside as the two members of the Rose family duked it out.

"I'm not one to talk but you should probably stop this before it gets any worse," the blonde-haired girl said to the Hunter Vanguard as Ruby latched onto her mother's head like a barnacle, pulling the white hood over the Guardian's face.

"This…did not go how I thought it would," he admitted with a wince as Summer's flailing arms accidently socked an innocent bystander in the face and knocked them out cold, "But I'm not dumb enough to get caught up in that fiasco."

While the White Rose managed to flip the younger girl of off her, the horned Exo saw Lux Sylphid stomping her way over to them. The Warlock looked more pissed off than usual and he idly wondered what was the reason.

"Hey Lux! Get over here!" Cayde called out to the female Awoken as the bout between Ruby and Summer had devolved into a slapping fight. The Warlock turned to face the Hunter Vanguard as she was about to shout back profanities at him but the words never left her mouth when she saw the White Rose and her smaller red counterpart on all fours, pulling on the ball of yarn with their teeth like two dogs fighting over a juicy bone.

"What the freak?" Lux muttered under her breath, staring in disbelief as what appeared to be two Summer Roses fighting over a ball of yarn.

"Take care of this before it gets out hand," Cayde said as he patted the Awoken on the shoulder and left her to the wolves.

One of the things that a good leader should know was delegation. It was about making the right person do the right job or in Cayde's case, making someone else do what you didn't want to do yourself.

00000

Remnant was currently facing major revolution.

There was several signs of this being the case but not many could see the signs for what they were. The people were too focused on the fragile peace that they so desperately clung to.

The evolution of the White Fang from a peaceful organization to a terrorist cell, the attack on the now deceased Fall Maiden and the increased frequency of Grimm attacks were the signs that irrevocable change was about to happen.

But what really was the straw that broke the camel's back was the return of Summer Rose and the alien invasion that she sought to save them from.

Now with the threat of the Vex thwarted, there was still more change to come.

This was what Ozpin, the Headmaster of Beacon Academy believed and the sentient android with a fully authentic Aura that stood before him served to further cement this belief.

"Tell me, Professor Ozpin," Cayde-6's light blue optics stared into the silver-haired man's brown eyes as if he could see the secrets that laid behind them, "What is your favorite fairytale?"

00000

AN:

Kinda short but this chapter is more like a prologue. We'll get to the real meat of the story in the next chapters.


	2. It's Just a Story

AN:

It's been a week since Remnant of an Iron Rose came out and it already has more than two hundred followers. Wow, a lot of people must really like my stories. In that case, I will do my best not to disappoint you guys.

A lot of people have been asking me if Destiny 2 would still happen in the Remnant of a Rose series so I decided to answer all of you at once. To be honest, I'm kinda on the fence. I may like the premise of Destiny 2 but I kinda doubt it's going to happen in my story due to one very important factor: the Hive Dreadnaught. For those of you familiar with the previous story, the Guardians of the Last City took control of Oryx's old ship. The same ship that could not only tank galactic army-busting attacks without a single scratch but also possess enough power to leave a permanent round blank space in Saturn's rings. I couldn't even begin to comprehend the sheer magnitude of an attack like that. The only way the Cabal managed to damage the Dreadnaught was by ramming their own ship into it and I doubt the Guardians are going to let them do that again.

As for the update schedule, I will try to follow the same pattern of releasing a chapter each week. There is no specified day of when I'm going to release the next chapter so just assume that it will come out either before or during the weekend.

00000

Chapter 2

"You mind telling me what is going on, kid?" Lux asked the girl with long flowing blonde locks as the Warlock tried and failed miserably to rein in her temper.

"They're fighting over a ball of yarn," Yang Xiao Long answered in an exasperated tone as Summer Rose was hunched over with a ball of red yarn held tightly in her hands.

"Mine. My own. My _precious_ ," the White Rose cooed over the ball of yarn in a low hiss as she took in every detail of it in with her wide silver animalistic eyes.

That was until she was tackled from behind by a red hooded girl moving at supersonic speeds. If Summer was in her right state of mind, she would have avoided the body slam with ease but her sole focus on the ball of yarn proved to be her undoing as her own daughter, Ruby Rose wrested it from her now limp grasp.

"Yes, the _precious_ is mine!" Ruby cheered as she held up her fibrous prize with unrestrained glee only for her mother to suddenly sneak up behind her and firmly place a chloroform-dipped rag over her mouth. Having been taken by surprise, the young reaper involuntarily breathed in the drowsiness inducing formula and let its effects take over.

"Sh, sh, sh, just go to sleep. _Sleep_. Sleep the sleep of the pure and just," Summer softly whispered into the girl's ear as the red hooded girl weak attempts to break free were slowly beginning to stop.

"Forever and ever," the Hunter said with a tone of finality as unconsciousness eventually won out over the drugged Ruby. Her slowly slid close and her catatonic form fell limp against the Guardian's chest. With an almost manic chuckle, Summer plucked the ball of yarn from the sleeping girl's hand.

Her chuckles then ascended into full blown deranged laughter as she threw her head back. Summer Rose was the perfect picture of an evil mastermind having their schemes flawlessly going into place until it was abruptly shattered as she rolled onto her back and tossed around the ball of yarn like some kind of human-sized cat.

"Oh yeah, this is the best!" Summer cried out in utter joy before hugged the ball of yarn tightly to her chest while her body shook in excitement.

If you were to recount the events that transpired here to anyone else, they would have given you a look that would question your sanity before backing away slowly just to leave the conversation. It may not be explicitly said but you can be certain that they didn't believe you.

As Weiss Schnee and Blake Belladonna arrived to witness the last portion of the battle between mother and daughter for the simple ball of yarn, they too questioned their own sanity as they couldn't quite comprehend the scene that played out before them.

"Did-did she just drugged her _own daughter_?" Blake was the first to voice her disbelief as Weiss' mouth continued to flap open and close like the fish that the cat faunus loved to eat so much.

"Never underestimate the lengths that a dolt is willing to go through for the most ridiculous of reasons," Drei spoke up as he materialized next to the former member of the White Fang, causing her and the rest of Team RWBY still conscious to recoil from surprise. Even though they had seen the Ghost appearing out of nowhere multiple times by now, they had yet to get used to it.

"You can say that again, Drei," Lux sighed as she stuck a cigarette in her mouth and lit it with a small application of her Solar abilities, "It's a mixed to blessing to know that Summer hasn't changed a bit."

"And now there's _two_ of them!" the Warlock exclaimed in outrage. Summer's Ghost may have told her about the young Hunter's situation on Remnant but a part still it to be unbelievable that Summer ever was a mother, previous life notwithstanding. However, the irrefutable proof was just before her eyes and was recently drugged to unconsciousness.

"Oh yeah, how did you know our mooo-what the heck is wrong with your skin!?" Yang turned to look at the Awoken for the first time but she was shocked by the Guardian's silvery skin and slightly glowing eyes.

"Yang! Don't be ru…de…" Weiss admonished the blonde brawler but trailed after seeing the Warlock's unnatural appearance while Blake simply gaped at the purple-haired woman in silence.

Arching an eyebrow, Lux took several puffs from her cigarette and exhaled a cloud of smoke, "Summer never told you kids about the Awoken, did she? About my kind?"

The girls shook their heads in negative, making the Warlock sigh. She should have figured that Summer forgot to mention about the Awoken to this planet's populace but in the light of having rediscovered a lost family and homeworld as well as the impending Vex invasion of said homeworld, Summer could be forgiven for such an oversight.

"Wait, she did mention taking several contracts for the Awoken Queen but I thought the Awoken was a name that the stuck-up people of the-uh-Feet call themselves," Yang said, wracking her brains for one of the stories that Summer told them of her adventures in space.

"The _Reef_ ," Weiss, Blake, Drei and Lux corrected on auto-pilot of the blonde brawler's mix-up with the Awoken kingdom's name.

"It's a long story how the Awoken came about but let's just stay that they're kinda like the Earth-version of faunus and leave it at that," the Warlock waved her hand dismissively. She was never really fond of the people on the Reef despite them being fellow Awoken due to the Last City and the Reef being on relatively bad terms with each other. She also happened to be good friends with one of nine Guardians that were killed in the airstrike brought about by Petra Venj. Needless to say but her dislike for the Reef was more than a little personal and if it wasn't for Summer being friends with Petra, Lux would have assaulted the Queen's Emissary the very moment they met, consequences be damned.

But enough about the past, the present and the oncoming future were more important, especially when you take recent events into account.

"I suppose proper introduction are in order," Drei chimed in as he hovered in between the huntresses-in-training, "This is Guardian Lux Sylphid of Fireteam Nero."

"Sup," Lux greeted casually with a mock two-fingered salute before taking another drag from her cigarette.

"And these are Ms. Weiss Scnhee, Ms. Blake Belladonna and Ms. Yang Xiao Long," the Ghost gestured with his optic at the girls before pointing at Ruby's prone form, "And the one laying on the ground unconscious is none other than Ms. Ruby Rose."

"I am Weiss Schnee and as heiress of the Schnee Dust Corporation, I would be delighted to-" the Schnee droned on but was rudely interrupted when the Warlock willed her mouth to be locked shut by performing a zipping motion, almost literally zipping her mouth.

"I get enough of that crap as it is so let's skip the pleasantries," Lux said gruffly as she stored her cigarette into her inventory for later use while ignoring the muffled protests of the white-haired girl, "And I also am not interested in whatever offer the bigwigs of this Schnee Dust Corporation have so shove it."

Sylphid made it her own policy to not get caught up in the political happenings of the City. Other than the Speaker and the Vanguard, she had no interest with the other factions that made up the Consensus, the major governing body of Earth. She may purchase items from any of the factions' vendors and even do some jobs for them if the price was right but she held no true allegiance for New Monarchy, Dead Orbit or the Future War Cult.

Even though the Warlock did share the belief of the inevitable war against the Darkness with the Future War Cult, she already made the mistake of joining up with a cult that experimented on the Vex and the intersecting timelines in her previous life. It also happened to be the reason why she was died in the first place.

That tended to leave a very lasting impression on joining cults for anyone.

Certain that she got her point across, Lux released her mental hold on Weiss' mouth and turned to face the other two members of Team RWBY (boy, was that name confusing). The Schnee heiress glared at the Warlock and she was just about to berate her but the Awoken simply snapped her fingers as a mysterious force smacked dab into the white-cladded girl's face. It was more of a nuisance than an actual attack but the Warlock drove another point home.

It would be child's play for Lux to disable the Schnee heiress all with the barest of motions.

"Guardian Sylphid, don't you think that you went too far with your warning?" Drei admonished the Warlock, knowing full well that threatening children albeit highly trained ones was a serious offense. Judging by the sounds of weapons cocking, the Bumblebee pair did not appreciate the threatening of their teammate in the least.

"Just how are you and my mom friends again?" Yang said as her eyes flared red in warning and she held her shotgun gauntlets up while Blake too raised her own weapons with a note of hostility in her amber eyes.

Subtly tensing her posture, the Warlock eyed the girls with a blank face as her fingers involuntarily twitched to draw Hawkmoon from its holster but she repressed that instinct since she knew that doing so would escalate the situation even further. The black and yellow Huntresses-in-training glared at the Awoken as they stood in the middle of some kind of stand-off.

In the background, Summer rolled past them while being completely tangled up in red yarn as the replacement for tumbleweed for a stand-off like this

"Heh, I ask myself that same question everyday," Lux smirked, relaxing her stance and turning on her heel. The rest of Team RWBY didn't let their guards down as the Awoken scooped up the tied-up Hunter and proceeded to leave the courtyard while paying no heed to the younger Guardian's struggles.

"You girls have a long way to go before you can get to my level," Lux called out to them, not even bothering to stop her pace or turn to face them, "But you got a good team, willing to watch each other's back like that. Sometimes, that's all that ever matters."

"You girls would have made decent Guardians. Not the best but decent enough, I guess."

Like Summer Rose, Lux wasn't one to make good first impressions but she certainly made lasting ones, which the conscious members of Team RWBY could attest to. Those girls had a long way to go before they were truly ready for what the world had in store for them but for a Guardian like Lux, it might as well be a blink of an eye by that time. The Awoken would be lying if she said that she wasn't looking forward to it.

She couldn't really say the same thing about Ruby though but if the girl possessed even _half_ the same spirit as her mother, Summer Rose (still felt weird for her to say), then Destiny still had a lot in store for her.

Ruby Rose may be just a child but the Warlock had a feeling that a warrior will soon run wild.

00000

The male members of Team STRQ and the lone male member of Fireteam Nero sat in a dingy bar with numerous empty bottles of different kinds of booze carelessly discarded around them. The scythe-master and the Titan were having a civil conversation while Taiyang Xiao Long was currently engaged in a staring contest with a stuffed fake Beowolf's head mounted on the wall, which he was winning by the way.

"Sho w-wu-wut's it like ta hab a, hab a robo-penis," Qrow Branwen slurred as his head swayed dangerously back and forth.

"I dunno," Prometheus-23 replied hazily, having drunken enough alcohol to activate his intoxicated subroutines, "Aye forgets wut having a human penis islike. Only hab-have the memomories of the robo one."

As civil as two drunk out of their minds men can be at least.

"HAH, you blinked! I win! You lose! I-wwooogghh!" the blond man yelled out in victory as he threw his arms up, which also threw him off balance and caused him fall on his back in a less than dignified manner. The fall also caused one of his gauntlets to accidently discharged a round at the Titan's back.

Fortunately, the buckshot did very little damage to Prometheus' shields so he was relatively unscathed by the weapon misfire. However, one of the pellets deflected off his metal frame with a few sparks, which ignited the flammable alcohol that he was partially drenched in.

Of course, being made out of metal and drunk on said alcohol, the Exo didn't even notice that his head was on fire but Qrow certainly did. It was too bad that he also wasn't in the appropriate state of mind to react in the correct manner.

"Your hair looks _stoopid_ ," the male Branwen twin told the Titan before tossing the contents of his glass at the android.

It went without that the contents of Qrow's glass was scotch, the same liquid that helped set the Titan on fire so what he did was fueling the flames even further. So far, Prometheus was almost completely on fire and it wouldn't have escalated from there if Taiyang also didn't have the same idea to splash him with more alcohol.

In few short moments, the entire establishment that they were in went up in flames. Unintentionally or not, Prometheus-23 had just joined his fellow fireteammates in their reputation for reckless endangerment. Once he sobered up to realize what he had done, he was in store for a _ton_ of teasing from Lux Sylphid and Cayde-6.

00000

"My favorite fairytale, you say?" Ozpin leaned back on his chair and set his coffee mug down on his desktop, "I have many favorites but I am not certain if you know them since they were originally from Remnant."

"I'm a fast reader so I read plenty of them by now," Cayde-6 replied as he took a seat across the headmaster's desk. The Exo's posture was laidback and relaxed that it would have given the image of a slacker to an outside observer but a trained veteran would notice how the android wasn't fully relaxed from the _very slight_ tenseness in body language and the way his hands never drifted too far from his sides.

Android or not, the man before the headmaster of Beacon was a confident one and had the necessary skills to back it up unlike most people. Then there was the fact that he was the Guardian mentor of Summer Rose, whose skills and tactics were leagues above the Summer Rose of the past. It wouldn't be too farfetched to assume that Cayde's fighting style was very similar with Guardian Rose's.

Ozpin even had doubts that he could walk away unscathed if a confrontation were to occur between them but hopefully, it wouldn't come to that.

"Oh," Ozpin leaned forward and steepled his hands together to hide the small interested grin behind them. It could barely be considered a grin since the side of his mouth only moved a miniscule amount but under the watchful gaze of the Hunter Vanguard, he might as well be blatantly projecting his emotions.

"Several of them have caught my interest since I couldn't help but find some similarities with the fairytales back on Earth," Cayde continued in a conversational tone as he pulled out a strange looking coin and began to roll them between his fingers.

"May I ask which ones in particular?" Ozpin inquired after taking another sip from his mug.

"Oh, you know. The Two Brothers, the Girl in the Tower," he listed down before pausing as if gathering his thoughts, "The Four Maidens and the Silver-eyed Warriors.

Ozpin made no outward reaction to how the Exo said those last stories with a meaningful tone but something in his eyes gave the android the confirmation he needed.

"I would warn you that you're playing around with dangerous forces here but I'm sure you already knew that."

"I was not aware that Earth had their own set of the Four Seasons," Ozpin spoke as he lowered his hands so one of them could discretely inch towards his cane.

"We don't have Maidens actually," he corrected with a shrug, "Besides, what's the point? There are entire orders of Warlocks that could achieve the same feats as these pseudo-magical girls. Plus, they're not in danger of having their powers stolen by some greedy douchebag."

"Indeed, it appears that Remnant drew the short end of the stick as the saying goes," the headmaster of Beacon agreed, remembering how small Remnant really was in the grand scheme of things, "But it would be unwise to entirely dismiss the threat of a rogue Maiden."

"And I agree with you. Magical powers of the four seasons falling into the hands of bad guys is a big no-no," Cayde shook his head as he wagged his finger in emphasis, "But that's not what I want to talk to you about."

"So the history of the Silver-eyed warriors goes farther back than we realized," Ozpin concluded.

"Yeah but unlike Remnant, we still have a proper name to label them with."

"And that is?" Ozpin was curious on what the legendary warriors were called due to the name being lost to time.

"The Roseus family. A group of elite warriors blessed with the Traveler's Light, sworn to defend the innocents from the forces of Darkness."

" _The Roseus. Rose. How oddly fitting,"_ Ozpin mentally noted. This served to prove the Rose family's heritage.

"In other words, they were unofficially the first Guardians," the Hunter Vanguard added, "I say unofficially because they were so few that many didn't believe they truly existed until one day, a Guardian discovered legitimate proof of the Roseus family's existence. A survivor of the illustrious bloodline that bore the mark of the silver eyes."

"It was the day that a Guardian by the name of Jaren Ward befriended a young boy who would someday later become the Hunter known as Shin Malphur."

00000

AN:

Boom! Did not see that coming did you?


	3. The Abyssal Hunter

AN:

A little spoiler but here come's the first fight scene of Remnant of an Iron Rose. The one with Summer and Ruby fighting over a ball of yarn doesn't count. Sorry, not sorry.

00000

Chapter 3

What made the Roseus so special? Weren't all Guardians blessed by the Light before they were revived so what difference did it make for a member of the Roseus family to become a Guardian?

The answer to that was simple and yet not at the same time.

The Roseus family was special because it was said that they received their blessing directly from the Traveler himself, thus why they were sometimes referred to as the children of the Traveler. While the Guardians only received a fragment of that same Light, which had been quite diluted by the Traveler's death and the Ghosts' own Light being added into the mix.

The powers of Light through Solar, Void and Arc could be wielded by both the Guardians and the Roseus but the Roseus could wield that very Light in its purest form, far surpassing the limited Light's states of Solar, Void and Arc. It was as if the Roseus was the Traveler given human form as their silver eyes reflected the uniqueness of their souls very well.

The term 'eyes being the window to the soul' had never been more apt for the Roseus as their pure souls meld together with the Traveler's Light so naturally.

As impressive as their innate affinity with the Light, the Roseus were still mortal with all of the same limitations that it entailed among other restrictions. Using too much of the Light's power fed off their own life force thus greatly reducing their lifespan even with the extended lifespan of humanity under the Traveler's guidance. Due to this, not many members o the Roseus lived past their first century and the Great War against the Darkness had drastically pushed their numbers down so far that only a few knew a truth of their existence while the majority believed them to be simply a myth.

And there was also the fact that they didn't have the same amount of control or level with the Light as the Traveler. While the Traveler could convert entire barren planets into worlds teeming with life, a member of the Roseus could barely do the same in a square kilometer radius and the feat of doing so would leave them completely drained for months if it didn't outright kill them.

But if it was all about genetics, then why weren't there more people who had inherited the Roseus' gift? If there were more silver-eyed warriors with even a mere fraction of Shin Malphur and Summer's caliber, then that Last City would have been able to turn the tide against the aliens a long time ago.

In reality, there were a great number of people that were descendants of the original members of the Roseus family but none of them inherited their mark of silver eyes. For those that did were few and far in between. Even for the children that were in fact born with silver eyes, the gift of the Traveler was not so easily attained. No matter how small compared to the Traveler's Light, the power of the Roseus could be easily abused if it fell into the wrong hands so there was a certain requirement for each bearer of the silver eyes.

The bearer of the silver eyes must awakened that unique power when put under extreme duress, a situation where they desire that power not for their own gain but for the sake of others. The descendants of the illustrious bloodline could only claim to be true members of the Roseus when their thirst for _justice_ came out without restraint.

Shin Malphur first awakened his gift when the treacherous Guardian, Dredgen Yor ravaged his village and massacred its inhabitants. His awakening caught the creator and wielder of Thorn's interest because in the perspective of the Titan formerly known as [REDACTED], Shin Malphur was the brightest light that he will ever know and he would take great pleasure if the boy were to succumbed to the Darkness just as he did so Yor chose to spare the boy and the deceased Jaren Ward's Ghost.

Thus began the tale of Shin Malphur's ascension to a warrior worthy of legend.

The event of Summer Rose's awakening of her lineage had long been forgotten by the bearer herself and it wasn't a tragedy on the same scale that Shin Malphur experienced but it definitely helped shape the White Rose's first and second life.

But that was a story for another time.

00000

As the alliance of Remnant's four kingdoms and Earth's Last City was being forged, an alliance of a different sort was being made deep in the unexplored regions of the Forgotten world. While the first alliance was that of the Light, the second alliance was for two forces that dwelled in the Darkness.

Salem, Queen of the Grimm and Dredgen Vena, emissary of the Shadows of Yor faced each other as their forms emanated wisps of Darkness. Red orbs glowed through the visor of the former Guardian to match the glare that the human Grimm sent in her way.

Not only do their alignment vastly differ from the Guardians and the Huntsmen, their way of negotiating peace talks was being done through another method.

"You trespassed into my kingdom, slaughtered creations and assaulted one of my most trusted followers," Salem intoned calmly with the slightest hint in her voice that expressed how insulted she was by the being in front of her as she stood up from her throne with her dainty fingers still tightly clasping onto the handrests, "And you have the gall to offer to _teach me_ as if I am but a mere pup blindly making its way through the world."

Any mortal being would have been frozen in absolute terror at the presence that the creator of the Grimm exuded but Dredgen Vena was unfazed as she arched a brow from under her helmet. The follower of Yor was less than impressed at this display of power for she had witnessed even greater beings than this one in action

"Yes, I do," Vena said with no hesitation whatsoever, "For that is the truth, is it not?"

Dredgen Vena was not suitable for diplomatic missions but she was only one skilled enough to sneak herself through the Gateway, which was no simple feat especially when it was under the ever vigilant watch of Lord Saladin Forge, the former Titan Vanguard. The true members of the Shadows of Yor were confident in their abilities and powers but they weren't foolish enough to engage the last of the Iron Lords in a direct confrontation. They didn't have a death wish after all.

The handrests of Salem's throne shattered into dust as the pressure that her grip pushed upon them became too much to handle. That was the only warning that Dredgen Vena got as the Grimm Queen launched herself at the former Guardian and tackled her form with the force of a wrecking ball, sending the both of them through the walls of her palace into the barren lands outside.

As their tangled bodies sailed through the air, Vena spotted a nearby Beowolf that had been newly spawned. Her eyes briefly emitted a violet light moments as they seemingly made contact with the Grimm's own inquisitive gaze before they crashed into the earth.

Now in her battle form, Salem raised her claws to eviscerate the disrespectful former Guardian only to stop in surprise as the dissipating form of a dead Beowolf laid beneath her form where Dredgen Vena should have been.

"What!?" she exclaimed in shock before the soles of a boot smacked into the side of her head, sending the Grimm Queen crashing into a boulder.

Groaning in discomfort, Salem found herself embedded into the stone with her vision obscured by the ensuing dust cloud from the impact. Danger senses flaring, she attempted to pry herself out of the rock as the crunching of footsteps could be heard through the thick dust cloud.

It was not a moment too soon as Dredgen Vena swung her kukri knives at the Grimm Queen. Salem swiftly raised her armored hands to block the Hunter's blades. The impact of the deadlock immediately blew the surrounding dust cloud away and created a wide crater on the ground beneath them.

"Is that all you possess?" Salem inquired tonelessly before she knocked the Hunter's kukri knives away and drove both of her palms into her adversary's breastplate, sending the former Guardian crashing into the side of the crater, "Because if it is, then _you_ and these Shadows of Yor are the ones wasting my time."

The Hunter's speed and strength were leagues above that of a normal human and her skills were nothing to scoff at. It was no wonder that Tyrian was overwhelmed by this warrior but Salem was on a higher existence than the madman that worshipped her.

"Oh, I'm just getting started," Dredgen Vena chuckled as she stood back up and pop the air out of her joints.

The Hunter reached behind her and pulled a rifle that appeared to be made of a chitinous material with a long arrowhead-shaped extension under its barrel as awry green light was being emitted from its openings. The design of the gun was unlike anything that Salem had ever seen and she surmised that it was most likely not of this world. Considering the origins of the former Guardian, it might very well be the truth.

Then there was this feeling of great foreboding that the Grimm Queen felt the moment she set her eyes upon that gun. It was as if the weapon was alive and it was giving off a hunger that not even the eldest of her children could match.

Salem was unaware of the true nature of the weapon wielded by Dredgen Vena but if a Guardian of Earth were to see that gun, they would have recognized it as the Necrochasm, one of the last remaining Weapons of Sorrow and that its power was left unrestrained. The implication of someone being in possession of a Weapon of Sorrow like the Necrochasm was very disturbing.

"I don't like resorting to use this but I'll make an exception for you," the Hunter said as shadows wrapped around her body like a cloak, "After all, even the best of predators requires a pack to aid them on the hunt."

The sudden sounds of weapons being primed alerted the Grimm Queen and she looked up to where she heard the source of those sounds originate from only to be bemused by what she saw.

Standing on the edge of the crater were a dozen shadowy figures that greatly resembled the one that Salem was doing battle with. In each of the figures' arms was an exact replica of the gun that Dredgen Vena wielded but the sensation that they gave off was merely a shadow of the original much like the clones surrounding her.

Without further prompting, Dredgen Vena and her clones opened fire on the Grimm Queen as Salem charged for the nearest body to impale but the impacts of the rounds hitting her form were much greater than she thought as she was sent sprawling to the ground from the onslaught of supernaturally empowered bullets.

Clones. An ability that the Grimm Queen had seen numerous times in her long life and anyone that possessed a variant of this irksome semblance were usually difficult to face. However, the technique that Dredgen Vena was currently using was on a different level from the standard clone generation semblance.

The clones that were produced by semblances were a temporary presence that could only affect the physical world through limited means and they would fade soon after while the clones that Vena employed were wielding firearms and dealing a significant amount of damage. They also had yet to fade away. Although, Salem noticed that the bullets fired from the clones were much weaker compared to the ones coming from the original.

Having taken enough, Salem threw her head back and let out a mighty shockwave-inducing roar, interrupting their barrage by knocking them back several feet. Before Vena or her clones could recover, the Grimm Queen leapt towards the closest clone and plunged her claws deep into its torso, causing it to disperse into dark mist. Spinning on her heel, Salem backhanded a second clone in the temple while her hair suddenly sprang forward like prehensile limbs and impaled a third clone in multiple vital places, dropping the number of enemy combatants to ten.

Seeing three of her doppelgangers destroyed, Vena tossed the Necrochasm into the air as an ethereal green light overtook its form. She snatched the weapon from midair as the unnatural light dimmed down to reveal something that didn't really surprise the Grimm Queen much since gunblades were all the rage in Remnant these days.

True to Salem's observation, the Necrochasm had transformed into a blade-like weapon while retaining its properties as a firearm. It now had the form of an oddly distorted, warped looking sword as the stock and the handgrip fused together and somehow thinned itself down into a pommel with a trigger by where the sword's guard should be. It had pronounced curves and jagged edges in it, along with a gap down the middle, which was presumably where the bullets would be fired out from.

Between Necrochasm and Thorn at their full unrestrained power, Thorn was the stronger of the two while the Necrochasm made up for its lacking firepower by being more…flexible with its form. As Thorn couldn't change its hand cannon state, the Necrochasm would shift to a form that was more suitable for its current owner's needs. Unlike the hand cannon Weapon of Sorrow, the auto rifle Weapon of Sorrow was more compliant to the wielder's wishes as long as they pay the price for its power.

Like now for example, conventional firearms would not be enough to subdue the Grimm Queen and Vena was under strict orders from her superiors not to kill Salem so she was to defeat her but not kill her. Not yet at least. With this in mind, the Necrochasm thought a more versatile weapon that could act as both a melee weapon and a gun would aid in its owner bout with the Grimm Witch.

The Necrochasm initially took the form of a gun because that was all a Guardian really needed as a weapon to match their Light back then but now in this era of bloody evolution, a sword was just as trustworthy as a gun. Combining both saved the trouble of switching between them.

"As the saying goes, 'when in Rome'," Vena swung the gunsword to the side as the Necrochasm copies with her clones shifted to match the original, "Or when in Remnant as the case may be."

Salem barely had enough time to raise her claws to block the downward slash that the Hunter aimed at her shoulder. However, Vena learned from their earlier deadlock and she ducked her down a bit as one of her clones ran up her back to deliver a somersault kick at the Grimm Queen's chin, knocking her off her feet.

Two more clones ran up Dredgen Vena's back and used it as a springboard to launch themselves into the air while the second clone grabbed the hands of the first and the third clone before flinging them towards Salem's airborne form.

The Grimm Queen twisted her body out to evade the first clone's diagonal swing before countering with an earth-shattering hammer kick, dispersing the copy into black mist from the blunt force trauma. She brought her claws down to catch the third clone in the chest, slicing it into four pieces before it dissipated.

But those clones were merely a distraction as the original burst forth from the mist that was the third clone and gripped the sides of Salem's head. Placing the bottom of her feet on the Grimm Queen's solar plexus, Dredgen Vena leaned back and sent her enemy plummeting to the ground below.

Every time Salem attempted to right herself, a clone would leap into the air and slice its blade into her side, further destabilizing her position. After the seven remaining clones finished with their assault, their bodies dissolved into black mist and flowed back to the original Dredgen Vena.

The Grimm Queen only had enough to notice the Hunter falling towards her vulnerable form before the blade of the true Necrochasm plunged itself into her abdomen as her back violently smashed into the earth with the Shadows of Yor's emissary pinning her body to the ground. The Necrochasm began to glow in eldritch green light before it was viciously unleashed into the Grimm Queen, creating web-like cracks on the ground under her.

Blood welled up in Salem's mouth before being involuntarily spat out as Vena roughly tore the blade out, staining the both of them in red. As the Hunter stepped away from her injured form, the Grimm Queen gathered the essence of her nearby children to heal her wounds. They may not be fatal but she could not continue fighting in this weakened state so she resorted to desperate measures.

Her eyes widened in panic and shock as she came to a sudden realization. Her injuries were refusing to heal. Whatever energy that Salem was subjected to was preventing her from mending her body. It was all she could do as Dredgen Vena loomed over her.

"Do you yield?" the Hunter pressed the tip of her gunsword against Salem's throat, the threat in her tone all too clear if the Grimm Witch chose otherwise.

Gritting her teeth so hard, Salem had no choice but to let out a garbled, "Yes."

The only way for two different forces of Darkness to work together was if one was able to overwhelm the other into submission. Might was all that mattered to the Darkness and it was what dictated on who would lead and who would follow.

Both Salem and Dredgen Vena knew this fact quite well. It was why things erupted into a confrontation between them so soon for it was in their nature like two alpha wolves trying to decide who would lead the pack.

Dredgen Vena had proven herself the alpha and Salem was in no position to refuse. She would have to listen to what the Shadows of Yor had to say. Until she had grown powerful to defy them once more, the Grimm Queen would have to reign in the urge to rip apart the accursed Hunter that thoroughly humiliated her.

00000

"Is this Shin Malphur still amongst the living?" Ozpin inquired as the Hunter Vanguard finished telling the detailed synopsis of the Roseus family. Even just one surviving member of the silver-eyed warriors could tip the scale to mankind's favor and now there were two, possibly three survivors still remaining to this very day. Just imagine the possibilities.

"Yeah, Shin's still alive and kicking from what we gathered," Cayde confirmed with a nod, getting the headmaster of Beacon's hopes up, "But he left the employ of the Vanguard a long time ago. We still keep tabs on him every now and then. That's how we know he isn't dead yet."

"I see. I cannot say that I wasn't disappointed," the headmaster of Beacon sighed as he sipped from his mug. A holo-screen suddenly popped up with an important alert, "But it appears that we have to cut this conversation short. The Councils of Remnant wished to speak with you."

"Right, let's get this over with," the Hunter Vanguard muttered as the windows of the office dimmed down and several holo-screens displaying the dark silhouettes of the Council members popped up.

"Okay, before we start, I wanna get this out of the way," Cayde-6 interrupted whatever the politicians of Remnant were about to say, "The Last City of Earth will _not_ trade our technology (with a few exceptions) to the kingdoms of Remnant."

00000

"What do you mean you haven't had the Talk yet!?" Lux Sylphid bellowed in disbelief as she glared the young Hunter, Summer Rose who was still tangled up in string.

"Every time I ask someone about the Talk, they keep changing the subject," Summer answered as she struggled to escape her bindings, failing to see the futility of her actions.

"Damn it! I thought Cayde said he was going to take care of it!" the Warlock exclaimed as she pulled her purple hair in frustration.

"I just want to clarify some things," Drei stated as he hovered over his Guardian's bound form, "Did he say _when_ he was going to give her the Talk?"

Lux thought about it for a moment and then came to a sudden realization. The Hunter Vanguard never specified when exactly he was going to give Summer the sex talk. He just said that he was going to take care of it so while he did plan to tell Rose about the inner workings of sex eventually, he was in no hurry to do so.

"That son of a bitch," the Awoken muttered as she kneaded her forehead.

Oh well, there was no harm in giving Summer the Talk in the Exo Hunter's stead. Lux figured that the young Hunter earned the right to know due to having had a kid already.

"Hey Summer, I have a book that I want to show you," Lux said in an uncharacteristically gentle tone as she used a small application of her Solar flame to free Summer from her retraints.

"Does it have pictures?" Summer asked in curiosity as she stretched her limbs.

"Yes. It has plenty of pictures."


	4. Startling Revelations

AN:

Firstly, I apologize for this chapter being later than usual but I was too busy preparing for Mother's Day. Gotta make it extra special for the amazing woman that brought me into this life, you know.

Secondly, everyone's more hung up on Summer getting the Talk than the origins of the Roseus or the fight scene between Dredgen Vena and Salem. I'm a little disappointed to be honest. You think people would be more concerned with one of the baddies having a Weapon of Sorrow like the Necrochasm or even question about Dredgen Vena's powers but _noooo_ , Summer learning about sex is apparently more important!

Oh well, it just means that everyone loves how I portray Summer Rose and subsequently place their main focus on what's happening to her instead of what's going on everywhere else.

Enough ranting. Let's get started with another new chapter

00000

Chapter 4

It had been a long day for the people of Remnant and the people of the Forgotten World had no idea how close they came to worldwide extinction. Only Vale and some parts of Mistral had an inkling to the danger that was averted by Fireteam Nero.

Nihileon was not an enemy that anyone on Remnant could hope to stand a chance against and even a majority of Guardians would falter in the face of its might. How fortunate that the members of Fireteam Nero could not be considered as most Guardians for they had reached a level that allowed them to contend with _gods_.

Even with the heroic efforts of the three Guardians, Remnant still had lost a lot in the initial conflict with the Vex and they were forced to pick up the pieces of their peaceful lives while knowing that it would never be the same again.

It was the end of an era for Remnant but whenever there was an end, there was a new beginning. And thus, the tranquil age they lived in was no more as the inhabitants of Remnant fought and bled to oppose those who wished to bring upon them a more permanent end only to receive aid from their oldest yet newest defenders.

But their struggles were not yet finished. The Vex was merely one of the forces that originated from beyond Remnant's reach and undoubtedly, the rest were made aware of the Forgotten World's existence so it shouldn't be referred to as the Forgotten World anymore. More will follow; all of them hell bent on driving mankind to extinction. However, Remnant would have to do what its people had been doing since ancient times.

Fight for their right to live.

If one really thought about it, the only difference was that Remnant had more enemies to do battle with and new allies to come to their aid.

However, there was a disaster approaching that not even the alliance of both Remnant and the Last City could ever hope to stave off. The likes of which neither had the displeasure of experiencing or would prevent at any cost if given the chance to do so. But alas, they were merely delaying the inevitable.

Guardian Summer Rose had to be given the sex talk sooner or later and it just so happened that a certain Warlock by the name of Lux Sylphid decided it was to be sooner.

"How much do you know about the different private parts of men and women?" Lux inquired as she materialized a book with the title, "The Basic Anatomy of the Human Body for Kids or People with the Mental Maturity of One", and she flipped through its pages for the desired chapter.

"Well, Cayde already told me that women have a vagina and a pair of boobs while men have something called a dick or penis," Summer wracked her brain as she absentmindedly nibbled on a cookie, "But he never told me what exactly they did besides getting hit in the dick or boobs hurt a lot."

The Hunter could attest that last part being true since she experimented with that knowledge in Crucible matches to discover that it was a very effective method to disable the opponent without having to kill them. Who knew that a shotgun round fired point blank at the nads was enough to halt a rampaging Titan in their tracks? Well, Summer did after a lucky shot at the aforementioned Titan's nether regions.

And that was how Summer's literal cheap shot spree came about.

"At least the metal bastard told you that much before wussing out," the Warlock grumbled, thinking of the dozens of ways that she could pay the Hunter Vanguard back for this, "I also know where to start with the sex talk."

"Oh, I tried asking Yang about that too," Summer cheerfully added, oblivious to how messed up on all sorts of levels asking your own daughter about the birds and bees was.

After Lux did a spit take despite not having drunken anything, the White Rose couldn't help but note, "That wasn't her first reaction but she _did_ do that the second time I asked her about it."

The eldest member of Fireteam Nero sputtered in disbelief at what was possibly the biggest _faux pas_ in the history of forever and it was unsurprisingly done by the incorrigible dolt that was Summer Rose. Lux could hardly be considered an expert at social interaction but she was pretty certain that asking your own daughter for the sex talk was beyond the height of awkwardness.

Deciding not to broach that particular line of thought for too long lest Summer wore down her already frayed brain cells, the Awoken chose to continue with her self-designated task as she stopped at a certain page in the book, one containing a detailed diagram of the female reproductive organ.

"Whoa! What is that?" Summer gazed at the picture with a mixture of disgust and curiosity.

"That, Summer, is the reproductive system in a woman," Lux began what was no doubt going to be a long and exhausting lecture.

Lux wasn't exactly qualified as a sex-ed teacher but being near Summer for long periods of time had given her an understanding on how the younger Guardian's mind worked so she knew the best method to cram the knowledge of sex into the nitwit's super dense skull.

And after this was over, Sylphid had a specific Exo to hunt down. Member of the Vanguard or not, Cayde was _so_ going to get his ass kicked to Earth and back.

00000

Meanwhile, another Exo (not the one that Lux wanted to hurt in various imaginative ways) laid sprawled over the pavement with two other bodies of the fleshy variety laying by his sides as the building before them was currently burning to the ground. The Exo's eyes lit up into two dark orange lights as he pushed himself up into a sitting position.

"I'm not entirely sure how this escalated so quickly but this is the last time that I'll indulge myself in libation," Prometheus-23 said to himself as he ignored the two Huntsmen snoozing without a care in the world, "Pandora, thank you for ending the drunk subroutine prematurely."

"You're welcome, Guardian," his Ghost replied through the mental bond that they shared.

Exo Guardians possessed the same super computer-like minds of Ghosts so it was easier for them to communicate through non-verbal means compared to the more organic Guardians. They could have entire conversations in significantly less time than it would take for everyone else, which was why it didn't take five seconds for Prometheus to convey his wish to delete any and all records of his drunken fiasco to his Ghost, Pandora and for her to comply with his request.

It was a mixed blessing that Remnant's network was pitifully simple to break through for a Ghost much less an Exo and a Ghost working together in tandem. The Titan may have been the most responsible member of Fireteam Nero but even he was willing to break the rules if it inconvenienced him.

Prometheus didn't want to admit it but spending copious amount of time with his more undisciplined teammates may have left an influence on him. He would have to take extra measures to not let anyone find out.

Pandora already took care of the digital evidence and the fire would definitely remove any physical traces of Prometheus, Taiyang and Qrow's presence so the only thing left to do was to leave the scene of the crime. He was certain that the two humans would not blab about truth since they were the ones that set him on fire in the first place.

After putting out the fire of course. The Titan didn't want the flames to spread to the neighboring buildings since the fire department already had their hands as it was from the destruction that Nihileon wrought earlier.

Prometheus-23 cast a glance at the two Huntsmen who were now unconsciously cuddling with one another. Intentionally disregarding Pandora snapping a picture of the spoonfest for later blackmail, the Titan spread his arms apart before suddenly bringing them together for a mighty sonic boom-inducing clap. The flames consuming the establishment that was previously a bar were forcefully blown away, leaving naught but ashes, cinders and melted glass behind.

Nodding at his handiwork, the Exo picked up the blond man and the black-haired scythe wielder and slung them over his shoulders. He lightly kicked off the ground to prevent cracking the pavement before flinging himself into the air even higher with a Catapult, the improved version of the signature Titan-maneuver generally known as Lift. He then repeated the same maneuver several more times to get himself and his two Huntsmen companions as far away from the burned down bar as possible.

After crossing a considerable amount of distance that he deemed suitable enough, Prometheus made his way back to Beacon Academy.

The Titan already read the files that gave him a brief overview of Summer's previous life here on Remnant so he figured that he should properly introduce himself to his comrade's daughters (still felt weird for him to say that).

Once the courtyard of Beacon Academy was in sight, the Exo Titan converted his next leap into a standard Lift so he landed lightly on the pavement to avoid damaging more than it already was. He also surmised that the woman who was telekinetically placing the debris back into place would not appreciate another addition to her workload. He was considerate like that.

Strange, the Titan could have sworn that the courtyard wasn't in such a state of disrepair after his short tussle (understatement of the week) with Lux Sylphid. Something must have happened while he was gone to bring about this much destruction. If he was a betting man, then he would have placed his glimmer on Summer Rose being responsible for this somehow but that was a sucker's bet.

"Wuh? What's happenin'?" a gruff voice coming from near his shoulder alerted him that one of his baggage picked now as the right time to stir from their drunken haze.

Prometheus gently lowered Qrow on the ground while he laid out Taiyang Xiao Long on a nearby bench. Being more experienced with alcohol, the scythe-master managed to stay on his feet albeit shakily and with the beginnings of a hangover as the Xiao Long patriarch snored loudly where he was set down.

"We went a little overboard with our binge drinking," the Exo told the alcoholic Huntsman as he winced sheepishly at having to recall the prior incident.

"How overboard we talking about?" the male Branwen twin asked as he dealt with his hangover with the only way he knew how by drinking more alcohol from his personal flask, which he had already refilled earlier.

"You set me on fire," he curtly replied, giving the man a bland stare.

"I don't see the big deal," Qrow shrugged, "You Guardians are immortal and I also saw that video of the stunt you pulled at the docks. Being set on fire means nothing to you."

"Yes but those times were intentional and served a clear purpose while what you and Mr. Xiao Long did only served to set me and the bar ablaze."

Well, look on the bright side."

"I fail to see what is the bright side in this situation."

"At least Tai passed out before he went on another goddamn pun spree."

"…what did you say?"

"Oh yeah, pretty much the whole family with the exception of Ruby (god bless her innocent sweet heart) thinks puns are clever," Qrow continued, unaware of the Exo's inner turmoil due to not knowing how to read the facial cues of an Exo, "In fact, the blond bastard was the one who got Summer into puns in the first place."

Prometheus-23 stilled at what the former member of Team STRQ said as his optics stared off into the distance and yet not really seeing anything. The Titan's mind flashed back to all of the times his teammate, Summer Rose wore down his already testy patience.

He remembered the numerous insufferable _puns_.

00000

"Exo _marks the spot!"_

" _It looks like Lux has_ Awoken _."_

" _Hey Prometheus! You should help us_ Titan _our defenses."_

" _Better_ Warlock _your doors."_

" _The enemy has_ Fallen."

" _Man, these Harpies are really starting to_ Vex _me."_

" _Mind if I_ cut _in?"_

" _What a_ shocking _finish!"_

" _I'm too_ hot _to handle."_

" _Agh, my arm! Hey, can anyone give me a_ hand _?"_

"Knife _to meet you!"_

" _That Minotaur sure lost its_ head _."_

" _Enemy reinforcements have_ Taken _to the battlefield!"_

" _You don't stand a_ Ghost _of a chance."_

" _To_ Summer _it up, I won while the bad guy lost."_

" _Guess you can say that I_ Rose _from the dead."_

00000

"Hey Prometheus, you doing okay?" a mature male voice brought Prometheus back into reality as the Titan abruptly whipped his head to the side to face the one to have roused him from his unwanted flashbacks.

Standing before the Exo was Taiyang Xiao Long who had recently recovered from his drunken state. You can't be close friends with Qrow Branwen without increasing your tolerance to alcohol and gaining the ability to recover faster from a hangover, which were some things that Tai was very grateful for at the moment.

Despite of that, Prometheus must have been out of it for a while now and the two Huntsmen were starting to get a little worried.

"Maybe he's lagging," Qrow suggested sardonically as he idly picked his ear with his pinky finger, "Did you check if he was lagging?"

"Qrow, I'm pretty sure that's an offensive thing to say about his ki-"

"You," Prometheus intoned, interrupting Tai's berating of his old teammate.

"Oh hey, you're ba-"

" _You_ ," the Titan cut the alcoholic scythe-wielder off as he seemingly loomed over the elder yellow dragon even though they were about the same height. The Exo was slightly bulkier than human though and evidently had more brute strength than him so Tai was beginning to get a little intimidated while Qrow slowly backed away from the two.

Prometheus' patience was considered to be legendary after having tolerated his rowdy teammates' antics for years but everyone had a limit. A weakness to push them to the edge. For the Titan Specialist, it was the one thing that he had a rather large distaste for and that was Summer Rose's puns.

Do not be mistaken, he won't lose control if he heard a pun just as long as it was on extremely rare occasions but Summer made so much puns every. Damn. Day. For. Five. Years.

It took a herculean amount of restraint so that the Titan of Fireteam Nero wouldn't snap at the young Hunter. That was already Lux Sylphid's role after all. In fact, he could have kept it up for many more years if need be.

The Titan rescued the Xiao Long patriarch from his Awoken friend because he believed that the man had done no wrong even if he did impregnated Summer in her previous life but this it went beyond her old life and into her second life as a Guardian.

However, the root cause for all of his frustrations was standing before him. The one responsible for corrupting Summer with the knack for Darkness-be-damned bad puns was Taiyang Xiao Long.

"Prometheus, is something wrong?"

"It was _you_. You're the one that made Summer Rose enjoy _puns_ ," Prometheus spoke in monotone like a run-of-the-mill Atlesian android as he approached the elder yellow dragon in a menacing stride.

"Prometheus. Buddy, you're starting to creep me out a little. Maybe we should all just calm down and-"

"Mr. Xiao Long, I would like to respectfully inform you that in fifteen seconds, I will attempt to asphyxiate you with my bare hands," the Titan spoke in a polite tone that totally didn't match the ominous aura he was radiating, "I would run."

"Oh shit."

With that, the chase was on. The authorities of Remnant would look upon this unfortunate incident with disapproval and so too would the Vanguard announce officially. Unofficially, the Guardians of the Last City would scornfully berate their fellow for not succeeding.

Prometheus-23 and Lux Sylphid weren't the only ones that were sick and tired of Summer Rose's puns after all.

00000

AN:

Here is the first Dark subclass for the Hunter, which is also the one that Dredgen Vena used in her fight against Salem.

Deceiver – _"Deceive your victims with the Darkness of the Void before they realize their true fate."_

Special melee ability:

Switch Teleport – swap places with an enemy, ally or object in your line of sight.

Super ability:

Shadows of the Hunt – call upon doppelgangers to aid you in the hunt as your pack. (Clones only posses a 15% of the original's armor, shields and weapon damage.)

In case you were wondering, I based the idea of the Deceiver by combining some abilities of Mirage and Loki from the game Warframe. Both of their powers were focused on manipulating the battlefield to their advantage instead of just overpowering the enemy so it was the perfect fit for a subclass called Deceiver.


	5. Addendum

AN:

Did anyone catch the gameplay trailer for Destiny 2? If you haven't, then go look it up on youtube or something.

There are also three new subclasses in Destiny 2.

Warlocks got the Dawnblade where they summon a flame sword and grow fiery wings. Titans got the Sentinel, which is basically a Captain America with the shield-boomerang and everything. Hunters got the Arcstrider, which is a staff-version of Bladedancer.

Strangely enough, I sorta already did those stuff in the previous story, Remnant of a Rose.

Lux Sylphid used the Dawnblade when she combined the Solar Infinite Edge with the Sunsinger's Radiance. Prometheus-23 already has the shield but he doesn't know how to throw it yet. Meanwhile Summer could probably pull the Arcstrider off if she used a staff instead of a sword.

Remember, I came up with all of this _before_ the new subclasses were publicly revealed so I had no idea of the similarities until I saw the announcement.

00000

Chapter 5

"Whoo! Boy, am I glad that's over and done with," Cayde-6 mumbled under his breath as he wiped some imaginary sweat off his forehead (while carefully maneuvering around his horn) to emphasize his exhaustion.

As expected, the Councilmen were taken aback by his bold declaration of not sharing Earth technology with Remnant and tried to persuade him to change his mind. Unfortunately, it was one of the few things that the Hunter Vanguard was adamant of since the Consensus had a meeting concerning this topic while the Vanguard made their preparations to venture into Remnant.

The debate on whether or not they should share the salvaged Golden Age tech was long and tedious but was definitely necessary in the end because there were a good number of technology that could be very dangerous in the wrong hands. With the data packet that the Exo Stranger provided describing how Remnant was on the brink of a civil war between the terrorist group, the White Fang and the Four Kingdoms before the Vex showed up on their world, it was for the best that a majority of the City's tech should be out of Remnant's reach until the humans and faunus settled their differences.

There was also another recently added factor that made it a bad idea. If Guardian Summer Rose's reports (written and compiled by her Ghost, Drei) were to be believed, then there was a third party that was pulling the strings from behind the scenes and their goal was to make the people of Remnant tear each other apart before the Grimm finished the job. The one known as Cinder Fall obtaining the Autumn Maiden's power was merely one of the many steps to achieve this.

The Consensus may not have the power to settle Remnant's inner disputes but the Last City will not provide them the means to kill themselves even more. And even though the City had the military might to usurp the Four Kingdoms of Remnant, it would go against every morals that the Guardians devoutly preached about.

The time of the Warlords was forcefully put to an end by the first Iron Lords for a very good reason after all. No longer will the Traveler's chosen subjugate their fellow man in a misguided attempt to 'protect' them and that tradition will continue as long as the Vanguard and the Speaker have anything to do about it.

"Excuse me, Mr. Cayde-6, sir?" a young voice called out to the Hunter Vanguard as he stepped out of the elevator. Even though he only just met the owner of the voice yesterday, the Exo Hunter was able to quickly recognize Ruby Rose, the daughter of his second protégé.

"Just call me Cayde. That's what everyone else calls me," he said, turning to face the red hooded girl who was being accompanied by her teammates from Team RWBY (boy, was that name confusing), "I'm not really so hung up on formality."

"Oh, okay then," Ruby beamed at him with all the innocence of a puppy. Fortunately for him, Cayde had built up a resistance to the cuteness after so many exposures from Summer Rose's puppy dog stare so the younger Rose didn't even make him flinch.

Then again, Ruby wasn't really trying to be mesmerizingly adorable at the moment so he wasn't completely certain that his defenses could take the brunt of it. There was a big difference between _resistance_ and _immunity_.

"So what do you kiddos want?" Cayde inquired as he looked away from the young leader of Team RWBY in favor of facing the older members.

"Hey, besides Rubes here, we're pretty much adults," Yang Xiao Long boasted, ignoring her younger sister's indignant protests.

"You're still all babies compared to me," he retorted, knowing that they were in their mid to late teens while he had several centuries under his belt so they might as well be infants in comparison to his age.

"Maybe you can show us a thing or two, old-timer," the blonde brawler fired back, hoping to rile him up by mentioning his age, "You must've seen a lot in your day."

" _Old-timer?"_ Cayde mentally noted, more amused than annoyed by the comment.

Some Guardians were kind of sensitive whenever the topic of their ages came up but the Hunter Vanguard was not one of them. He was hardly the oldest Guardian still alive but he had been around long enough to receive so many comments about his apparent age that they no longer fazed him.

"You kids have to make it worth my time if you want this senior citizen to show you up. I got Vanguard business to attend to so better make it quick."

"Vanguard? That is the group that leads the Guardians and they are comprised of only the best that the Guardians have to offer if I'm not mistaken," the white haired girl, who he vaguely remembered the name of (Snow White or something), said as if answering a question of a teacher.

"Ooh, does that mean you're like super powerful and talented?" Ruby popped out of a swirl of rose petals, invading his personal space as she stared up at him with childlike wonder in her silver eyes.

"I don't wanna brag," many would say that was the biggest lie Cayde ever said and many others would agree with them, "But yes."

"You're also the one who taught Summer Rose during her time as a Guardian, right?" the black haired girl who was *ahem* secretly a faunus added.

"Yeah, I heard my dad and Uncle Qrow talking about how mom is a whole lot better than she would have been even if she _had_ survived her last mission," Yang said with an excited gleam in her lilac eyes.

Oh boy, the Hunter Vanguard had an idea where this was going.

"So we were thinking that maybe you can tutor us," the faunus girl said. Blake! Right, that was the girl's name, "Get our skills up to snuff to match our Guardian-quality gear."

"No," he bluntly replied with no hesitation whatsoever.

"Come on," Blake pleaded with her hands clasped together as the bow on her head drooped down like the animal ears that lay hidden under it.

"Some advice wouldn't hurt," Yang said from behind the pleading faunus.

"Isn't that what this place is for?" Cayde shot back as he pulled out a pamphlet, "That's what it says on the brochure at least."

"Yes but classes has been suspended for the foreseeable future and we will not he capable of keeping up with our training with a professional opinion to guide us," the white girl (Whitney? Willow? Something with a 'W') responded smoothly like she had planned for this conversation.

"So ask Summer for some," he told her, "She already upgraded your weapons and gave you armor for free."

It was against Guardian policy to give newbies the good stuff for free. If the noobs wanted the high end gear so badly, then they had to really work for it. Which Summer completely disregarded by handing out these freebies as she was wont to do.

"We already tried that!" Ruby exclaimed as she threw her hands up in frustration, "But mom's kinda just staring blankly into space with her jaw hanging open for some reason since yesterday."

"And we haven't really been able to snap her out of it. She was still unresponsive the last time we left her and that silver angry chick said she might not snap out of it for a few more days," Yang spoke with a sheepish grin before adding, "Oh yeah, that Lux chick was also looking for you. Said it was urgent."

Silently wondering what happened with Summer and what Lux Sylphid wanted with him, Cayde shook his head, "Well, tough luck, kiddos."

The Hunter Vanguard only had a fraction of a moment to brace himself before a red-garbed missile barreled into his sternum and wrapped her arms around him like a limpet. Having experienced this move before, he snapped his gaze up, pointedly not looking down at the wide-eyed and pouty look that Ruby was sending at him. He knew that if he even caught a glimpse of the younger Rose's expression, he would instantly become putty in the girl's hands and follow whatever whims she demanded.

Just like with Gorgons, the best way to survive an encounter with excessive adorability was to avoid looking at them directly. It took him a while to come up with a countermeasure against Summer Rose's puppy dog stare only to find that it was actually quite simple to do.

"Pretty please! We'll work really hard if you teach us!" Ruby cried out with teary eyes but Cayde will not be swayed as long as he doesn't look at the girl.

"We _are_ one of the best teams in our year," Wanda? boasted as she placed a palm on her chest, "No doubt we will absorb whatever wisdom you have to offer us Huntresses in training."

"Wisdom, huh?" Cayde bit back a snicker as he pried the red-hooded girl's hands off him. Many people would claim that he didn't have any wisdom to share or at least sucked at giving them, "You want me to tell you ladies some words of wisdom?"

The members of Team RWBY nodded their heads eagerly as they awaited whatever valuable lesson the legendary Hunter Vanguard would impart on them.

"You are a bunch of dirty little misfits that will most likely get yourselves killed when you're in over your heads," Cayde told them in a nonchalant tone as he watched their eager expressions change into that of outrage, "But who knows, _maybe_ you won't."

"How is _that_ supposed to be words of wisdom!?" W-girl exclaimed in indignation as the other members of Team RWBY expressed their outrage in varying degrees.

"Are you really a teacher?" Blake demanded as her pupils briefly narrowed into slits before reverting to a more humanlike shape.

"Didn't say that I was a good teacher," the Exo Hunter shrugged before walking away, "Besides, I'm really busy with my job right now so you gonna have to find another Guardian to be your mentor."

"And I might have someone who'd be interested in teaching Team RWBY," Cayde said as he looked over his shoulder to peer at the first year team. He then vanished in a plume of smoke before the girls could ask him who it was.

It was going to cost Cayde-6 several favors and a hefty amount of his loot stash to get the Guardian that he had in mind to come to Remnant to teach a team of hormonal teenagers but he had a feeling that the Guardian would be more inclined to mentor the resident Roseus in Team RWBY if no one else.

After all, who better to teach a fledgling Roseus to wield their newly acquired gifts than a fully grown Roseus who had spent more than a hundred years to master theirs?

Yes, it was going to cost so much to convince Shin Malphur to come back under the Vanguard's employ but he would pay it gladly if it would prepare the young Rose for the path that laid ahead.

That was what he thought before a purple orb of unstable Void energy collided against his form, disintegrating him in an instant. Fortunately, it was still something that he can be resurrected from.

Unfortunately, that was the least of his worries since a temperate Warlock was waiting next to the spot he died so she could kill him again.

"This is for not giving Summer the Talk like you were supposed to, metal bastard," Lux Sylphid growled as she created another Nova Bomb in her hand.

00000

The Cosmodrome was once a hub of activity during the peak of the Golden Age but now, it was less than a shadow of its former self as the many vehicles and facilities wasted away without a care in the world. Not many go to this desolate place unless they were Guardians that just so happened to be revived from one set of the many withered bones or scavengers looking for salvageable parts.

But after the discovery and re-activation of the Gateway, different sorts of people had a reason to enter the former transportation hub. Those reasons were either to defend the Gateway and the world of Remnant that laid past the Gateway or to break through the blockade set up the Guardians so they could plunder whatever riches the newly discovered possessed.

"It's been a while since we were in the Cosmodrome, huh?" a lone Hunter mused as he trekked through the maze of wrecked cars.

The Hunter was garbed in light leather armor of varying shades of brown as his upper torso was covered in a light grey poncho with a hood and white trims. His hands were wrapped in dirty white bandages to hide the small throwing knives holstered on his forearms. The upper part of his face was hidden by the shadows that his hood casted and what can be seen of his visage was also covered by a gasmask-like helmet, preventing further identification of the person in question.

Not that it would help keep the Hunter's identity a secret because there was one other thing to determine who he really was besides his face.

 _Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!_

One moment the Hunter was simply minding his own business and then the next moment, he had a hand cannon out with smoke pouring out of the barrel. Eight electrical distortions appeared in the air around the Hunter as they faded away to reveal eight Vandals with gaping holes in what would have been their foreheads.

As the Fallen soldiers dropped dead, the Gunslinger twirled the hand cannon while dispelling its spent magazine. The gun slapped against his palm as he stopped its revolution before jamming in fresh rounds in the chamber. He flicked the firearm to the side to snap the chamber back into place.

The hand cannon's barrel a light bronze while the underside and the handle were a metallic black. Inscribed on its side were the words Tex Mechanica, the manufacturer of this particular weapon. Even though it was made by a well-known manufacturer, this hand cannon was one of a kind and only had two wielders.

The first one was murdered by the most hated Guardian in existence while the second and its current wielder used it avenged its previous owner by slaying the traitorous Guardian.

This Gunslinger and his gun were none other than Shin Malphur and his renowned weapon, the Last Word.

"A little too late to the party but let's see what my niece, Summer has gotten herself into," Shin muttered under his breath as he holstered the Last Word with a twirl.

Shin Malphur may not work for the Vanguard anymore but he still had a duty as a Guardian to uphold. A duty as the oldest survivor of the Roseus lineage.


	6. The Other Guys

AN:

Which do you guys prefer? Longer chapters but slower updates or shorter chapters but faster updates?

Also, what should the exchange rate be between glimmer and lien?

I would assume that glimmer would cost more than lien since the former is a programmable matter being used as currency while the latter is just plain old plastic and paper but I can't decide the exact cost between them.

Also, the Shin Malphur in my story is my own interpretation of him and should not be considered canon since he has yet to show up in the game. The same goes for Summer Rose so I don't want to hear people complaining how OoC a character who didn't have any screentime is.

One last thing, what should I name Shin Malphur's Ghost?

00000

Chapter 6

It had been a week since the final battle for Remnant and the cities had only begun to rebuild the buildings lost in the conflict. Despite the restored peace brought by the combined efforts of the Huntsmen and Guardians, there was still a certain tenseness in the air. A warning perhaps that everything wasn't over just yet.

In a way, it was the truth since the people of Remnant still had the Grimm to contend with and unlike the Grimm, Vex units didn't dissolve after death so the lingering stench of Darkness clinging unto their wreckage only served to attract even more Grimm.

Normally, the Vex would collect the parts of the destroyed units to be supposedly recycled but that could only happen if the alien cyborgs had claim the world they were on as their own. Since they were successfully driven off of Remnant, the wreckage of their armies was left behind as they both collected dust (the ordinary kind) and attracted the Grimm, subsequently increasing the frequency of attacks from the Grimm. This made disposal of the destroyed Vex units a higher priority than furthering Remnant's technology through researching them, not like the Guardians of the Last City of Earth would have allowed that in the first place.

Remnant also lacked the means to properly dispose of Vex technology with no fear of negative repercussions. However, the Guardians did have such a method due to the Cult of Osiris providing the Future War Cult with one after the latter's failed effort to utilize Vex technology to glimpse into the various timelines.

Even if the Guardians did know how to safely get rid of Vex corpses, the Council of Remnants did not wish to allow Vanguard-sanctioned operations to occur on their planet and yet the collective piles of dead Vex would continue to bring in more Grimm. Fortunately, only low-leveled class Grimm were currently flocking to the Vex remains like oversized moths to a flame but if it wasn't taken care of soon, the negativity being projected from so many Vex remains could attract Elder Grimm or even an Ancient Grimm.

Then there was the corpse of Nihileon to consider. Even in death, its unresponsive body exuded a feeling foreboding. It was not on the same scale if the fallen Vex god was still active where the entire city of Vale was frozen in terror but it was enough for normal people to avoid going to the docks like it was the plague.

On the positive side, the sensation it gave off even drove the nearby Grimm away. Since its mere presence could wipe out an entire army of Grimm in an instant, it must have instilled an instinctual fear into the rest of Grimm and as useful as it could be used as a Grimm deterrent, people that stayed near the docks too long experienced some symptoms like frequent headaches, copious bleeding from the nose and insomnia. According to the Guardians, those were the first symptoms of Vex-induced madness if someone delved too deeply into Vex study.

That made the immediate removal and disposal of Nihileon's body parts an even higher priority.

Luckily, that task was just about done with the aid of Lord Shaxx's Redjacks. Now, it was time to focus their efforts on the disposal of the other minor Vex units that remained. Unlike the fallen Vex god, they needed a more widespread method to dispose the rest of the Vex remains so this was what the Hunter Vanguard and the Councils of Remnant decided on.

Teams of Huntsmen and Huntresses in training would accompany a Guardian to a specific area so that the assigned Lightbearer could clear out the Vex wreckages with a contingent of Redjacks while the student team would eliminate the surrounding Grimm and protect the Redjacks. Since the combat schools of Remnant had cancelled classes for an unconfirmed amount of time, the missions were given out to any student team that remained to aid in the clean-up operations. Only areas with higher levels of Grimm being sighted would have a fully licensed Huntsman and a Guardian deployed there.

Which was what Team JNPR had done after they fully recovered from their post war injuries. Other teams like Team CFVY and Team RWBY chose to take a break from all of the fighting however. The former was because they were the first warriors of Remnant to face the Vex so they deserved that much needed break while the latter was because half the members of Team RWBY wanted to catch up on lost time with their formerly deceased mother, Summer Rose and the other half was invited to come along.

"It's kinda weird. We used to fool around with games about aliens in the break room before this whole mess started," Jaune Arc, the leader of Team JNPR said as he and his teammates walked to the Bullheads docking area, "And we just finished fighting a whole army of them."

"It does seem very surreal," Lien Ren agreed with the blond boy as his childhood friend, Nora Valkyrie skipped ahead at an excited pace, "Going back to fighting Grimm would be a welcome relief at this point."

"We still shouldn't take this mission lightly," Pyrrha Nikos admonished not unkindly as her heeled boots clinked against the stone tiled floor, "The Grimm are just as dangerous as they were before so we should take the necessary precaution."

"But our team is _awesome_!" the hammer-wielding girl cried out in jubilance as she pulled the magenta eyed boy and red headed girl close in a tight hug before zooming out to stand in front of the less excitable members of their team, "And our weapons are badass!"

"We have a world renowned fighter!" she gestured toward Pyrrha who blushed a bit at the acknowledgement.

"Ren's basically a ninja!" she sidled up closer to said ninja who simply took the orange haired girl's quirks in stride.

"I can bench five of me!" she pointed at herself with both of her thumbs.

"And…" Nora looked at their leader with hesitation in her tone and eyes as she wracked up an appropriate thing to say about him, "Jaune…"

"Besides that, Team JNPR got it covered and the mean Grimm won't know what hit 'em!"

"Are you gonna take that?" Ren asked as he turned to look at the one he considered to be his brother.

"She's not wrong," Jaune sighed dejectedly as he bowed forward in slight depression, causing his female and totally platonic partner to place a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"It's alright, Jaune. You're still our fearless leader," Pyrrha told him in an attempt to placate him.

"If you say so," the leader of Team JNPR gave a small smile back at the red spartan. She was such a good friend to him.

"Remember, Nora, it's not just us that is going on this mission," Ren stated as they neared the Bullhead docking area, "We will also be shadowing a Guardian from Earth."

" _Oh yeah, they're a thing now too,"_ Jaune thought as he recalled what Ruby and Yang's mom, Summer Rose was now.

Immortal warriors that can back from the dead was a very big surprise and it would have been difficult for anyone to wrap their head around if they didn't witness a firsthand demonstration of a Guardian coming back to life.

The male Arc scion repressed a wince from the memory of Ruby reuniting with her long lost mother in the worst way possible. As much as everyone wanted to move past that disastrous incident, Team JNPR would suddenly wake up to Ruby's terrified screams in the middle of the night. The frequency of which those night terrors occur had lessened but the young leader's heartbroken cries pierced their very beings. The members of Team JNPR would not forget the pain that their friend had experienced anytime soon.

"Did the mission briefing say who we are going to shadow for this assignment?" Pyrrha's question snapped Jaune away from his depressive monologue and back into reality.

"Huh? Oh, I'll check," he replied as he pulled out his scroll and browsed through message containing the aforementioned mission briefing, "It says we're supposed to look for a…Lord Shaxx?"

"Ooh, what a fancy name," Nora giggled as she hopped in front of the team and walked backwards, "I wonder if he has his own army or a castle or a dragon or a-ooph!"

Not looking where she was going, the Valkyrie girl's back bumped into a solid form and she was sent stumbling back (or forward as the case may be) into her partner's arms. Team JNPR looked up to a tall, bulky and evidently masculine figure standing before them.

The figure was cladded in elaborately engraved armor, a single-horned helmet with no visible visor, fur shoulder pads and a large strip of embroidered cloth hanging from behind his waist like a cape. A hilt for what appeared to be a two-handed sword protruded from over and behind his right shoulder while the stock of a rifle could be seen from behind the opposite shoulder.

"To sate your curiosities," the man's voice rumbled with a regal air that demanded respect from whoever heard it as the owner crossed his arms over his breastplate, "The contingent of Redjacks belong to me so I do indeed have a personal army. A castle is too lavish for my taste and does not serve my purpose. Lastly, I do recall Guardian Summer Rose killing the last of the Ahamkara before harvesting its corpse for parts so there is sadly no dragon for me to subdue and tame as my own unless I happen to find a Grimm variant here on Remnant."

"Now that the incessant chatter is done with," the Guardian who could none other be Lord Shaxx spoke with the clear brass of authority in his tone, making the four teenagers abruptly straighten up in attention like they were soldiers in the presence of the commanding officer, "I assume that you are Team JNPR, the ones who are to shadow me for this mission."

"Yes sir!" Jaune nearly fell into the temptation of saluting to the Guardian of the Titan class but he resisted while hoping the intimidating warrior of Light would not be insulted, "Team JNPR reporting for duty, sir!"

Lord Shaxx silently regarded the first year team with a slight tilt of his head as if judging their very worth. The members of Team JNPR couldn't help but shiver under the scrutiny of the man's gaze from behind his seemingly visor-less helmet.

"Hm," the Crucible Master grunted, whether in approval or not was up to debate, "We shall see about that."

Even the normally unflappable members of Team JNPR felt increasingly nervous from being in the presence of a what seemed like a male and heavily armored version of their combat instructor, Professor Glynda Goodwitch but it was a good thing that they knew how to not upset the blonde professor so maybe it would also work on this Lord Shaxx guy.

Little did they know that Lord Shaxx could be considered even worse than the combat instructor of Beacon Academy since the latter at least did her best to ensure the relative safety of her students on the field while the former would leave them to endure the hardships of actual battle on their own so it would be a learning experience for them.

Yes, Team JNPR had a very daunting mission ahead of them but they would come out stronger from it. Assuming they survived being under the strict watch of Lord Shaxx.

"Wait, where's the Bullhead?" Jaune inquired as he took notice to the missing transportation in question. Flying may have been his least favorite way to travel but it was the fastest method to get around Remnant.

"There is no need for one," Shaxx answered as he turned on his heel and approached a large circular pad on the ground, "The area we are going to is not that far from the city and a transmat beacon has already been set so it will be quicker to transmat ourselves there."

"Um, what's a transmat?"

"As much as I would enjoy going into details of what is transmat," the Titan Lord intoned drily as he gestured towards the pad that started to light up, "We do not have all day to discuss such trivial matters so I will explain it in layman's terms."

"It is a form of a teleportation."

"Oh, okay then," the leader of Team JNPR nodded his head at the answer before warily eying the transmat pad, "Uhh, is that safe? We're not going to be teleported all over the place in different pieces, right?"

Instead of answering his inquiries, Lord Shaxx merely turned his head to intently stare at the blond young man, making him wilt under the Titan's gaze.

"Your concerns are valid, Mr. Arc and I will take them into consideration," he finally said, reluctantly begrudging, "I will be the first to step through the transmat pad to ease your worries."

Seeing their relieved looks, Lord Shaxx saw it would be fit to shatter their hopes in that instant, "I expect you all to follow shortly after me. Do _not_ make me come back to Beacon Academy to retrieve you or else I will be very… _irked_."

The tone in the Titan's voice left no room for arguments as the team of first year students nodded their heads wildly. Satisfied with their compliance, Lord Shaxx stepped onto the transmat pad and his body was then broken down into whit particles before dispersing into nothingness.

"Geronimo!" Nora cried out in excitement as she jumped into the transmat pad whilst dragging Ren by the arm.

"Wait, Nor-" was all that the magenta eyed boy had time to say before they too were dissolved into white particles. After witnessing their friends disappear into thin air, Jaune and Pyrrha turned to stare at each other.

"Well, no time like the present," Jaune shrugged as his partner gave an uneasy smile back at him before the red spartan grabbed him by the hand and pulled him towards the transmat pad with her where they both instantaneously transported to their destination.

00000

"Welcome, Shin Malphur," a gruff baritone voice called out to the famous Gunslinger, "It has been quite some time since we last met each other face-to-face."

The owner of the voice was a man cladded in ornate heavy armor that high-ranking Titans normally wore. The helmet to complete the armor set was being held by the man's hip and a thick fur-lined cape was draped over his shoulders.

As for the man's visage, he had a slightly grizzled appearance with his stubbles and greying hair yet he had a refined air to him that anyone could sense by just looking at him. It was as if he could garner the awe and respect of anyone by just arching his eyebrow.

It was really no surprise though since the man was Lord Saladin Forge, the last living member of the legendary Iron Lords whose reputation was even more well-known than Shin Malphur's.

"It's always an honor to be in your presence, Lord Saladin," Shin greeted back as he bowed his head respectfully.

Malphur always held the firm belief that respect should be earned and not to be given freely so he had a tendency to butt heads with a lot of people. Lord Saladin on the other hand, was more than qualified for Shin to rightfully treat him with respect because the renegade Hunter had grown up listening to the noble deeds of the Iron Lords.

Even after so many years, Shin still held his childhood heroes in the same high esteem as Jaren Ward, the Guardian who was practically a father to him.

"Quite a setup you got going here," the Gunslinger noted as he surveyed his surroundings.

The Guardians of the Last City didn't have the time to build a proper fortress around the gateway so they had to resort to piling up rundown cars to construct makeshift tall walls around the encampment. From these crude caricature of fortifications, half a dozen machinegun turrets were placed on top to prevent any Fallen soldiers attempting to scale the walls, leaving only one safe place to enter the camp, which was also heavily guarded by a contingent of Titans.

The inside of the encampment was just as lackluster as the outside because there were only two big tents, one for the command center and other one for ammo depot, as the rest of the area would have been completely bare if it weren't for the collection of Guardians arrayed around the campsite.

In fact, campsite was not entirely an apt word to describe this place. A campsite was a place where people set up a decent shelter to survive in the wilderness but since everyone here was a Guardian and thus didn't require food and sleep like normal people, it sort of fell short in this situation.

"It was the best that we can do for the time being," Lord Saladin replied as he led Shin around the campsite, "Until the House of Devils is properly discouraged from attempting to reach Remnant, we shall make do with what we have."

"They have been getting much bolder lately," Malphur agreed as he recalled the numerous bodies of Fallen soldiers that he left in his wake before arriving here. To be frank, he stopped keeping count after the thirtieth Eliksni that he killed, "The Devils must think that a new planet to plunder will give them the edge they need to turn the tides against us."

"Maybe. We cannot be certain of their goals," if Saladin was any other person, he would have shrugged. Since he wasn't, he simply went back to leading the oldest Roseus to the Gateway.

"We are here," Lord Saladin announced as the looming form of the Gateway came into view in a few short moments.

Shin couldn't help but let out a low whistle in admiration at the design of the Gateway. In spite of his lacking knowledge in engineering, he could tell how a lot of work was put into constructing and later rebuilding the Gateway. It _was_ made to instantaneously transport people and objects across an entire solar system and into the next one.

"I must warn you, Malphur that the Gateway will take you deep into hostile territory," the Iron Lord told him as the inventor of the Golden Gun technique fearlessly approached the swirling kaleidoscopic vortex that was the Gateway, "You will have to fight through hordes of Grimm before reaching a relatively safe area."

"Noted."

Shin already had his Ghost pull up every significant data that the City had on Remnant. Not only did this include the map of the planet but also the monsters that plagued it.

The Grimm were beings entirely composed of Darkness and were antagonistic to anything remotely human. They were also a new threat that the Gunslinger had yet to encounter but it made no difference.

The slayer of Dredgen Yor had spent many decades outside of the safety that the Last City held within its walls. It was a rarity that he ever had a moment of peace before it was abruptly brought to an end as waves upon waves of enemy xenos tried to claim his head. Keyword: _tried_.

The only difference that Remnant would offer him was the kind of targets for him to riddle with bullets from the Last Word.

"But what else is new?" Shin Malphur muttered, more to himself than to Lord Saladin as he stepped through the portal while trails of silver light poured out of his helmet's visor.

Another member of the Roseus lineage had made his way to Remnant and unlike the other two, this one actually an idea of what he was going to do.

00000

In several bright bursts of light, the members of Team JNPR materialized out of thin air before they collapsed to their knees with green faces as they tried to hold down their lunches.

"Oh man, that was even worse than flying," Jaune Arc moaned in despair before he started gagging.

"Ren, make the spinning stop," Nora Valkyrie begged as she practically lied on top of her partner.

"Nora! Do not vomit on me!" Lie Ren said, having relatively recovered first and was currently attempting to push his childhood friend off of him.

"I think I now emphasize with your motion sickness problem, Jaune," Pyrrha Nikos slumped against a nearby tree. The invincible girl was now rendered completely vulnerable by being teleported like the rest of her teammates.

However, the Crucible Handler was absolutely fine due to having undergone through the process more than a thousand times by now. He was already acclimatized to such methods of transportation from stepping through Vex Transfer Gates, the transmat back in the City and a Warlock or Hunter using their Blink technique on him.

"The transmat-induced nausea will pass," the old Titan informed them as squads of Redjacks and Atlesian Knights (the kingdom of Atlas still wanted some measure of control over operations such as these) materialized from behind Team JNPR.

The first year team could only groan in response as the androids marched ahead to do what they were programmed to do for this mission, which was being a glorified clean-up crew.

"I will give you five minutes to regain your bearings," he said as he unslung the scout rifle hanging from his back and did some last minute check up on it before he cocked the gun with a loud click, "Five minutes and no more."

Lord Shaxx didn't usually waste his time watching over new warriors working on missions unless it was in the grueling experience that was the Crucible. He had better things to do than watch overconfident fledglings fall to the hands of the enemy, like watching those same overconfident fledglings having that arrogance beaten out of them by more experienced Guardians.

In the old Titan's opinion, the best way to teach someone proper combat was to beat the stupid out of them. A very effective method indeed but he could not do so for every new Guardian that arrived to the City. So many new Guardians to break in and yet so little time. To solve this dilemma, he had the Crucible created where other veteran Lightbearers did the job of beating the stupid out for him. If veterans also get more experience from these bouts, then even better.

The reason why the Crucible Master personally requested for a team of student Huntsmen was because he wanted to see for himself the future defenders of Remnant in action. Video recordings were fine but he always preferred to watch the real thing if possible.

As well as their so called versatile weapons.

He found the concept of mecha-shift, the ability to change a weapon's form into a different, intriguing when Guardian Rose first brought up the idea of a gunsword to him and Banshee-44. As interesting as a gunsword would be, it was highly impractical but it was still an interesting side-project to pursue in his spare time. In fact, he was about to present the first ever prototype for a gunsword that he had built to Guardian Rose before she was sent to that fateful scouting mission on Mercury where she was accidently transported back to her homeworld, Remnant.

Well, now they knew where the White Rose got the idea of a gunsword in the first place because Remnant was teeming with melee weapons that were also guns.

With Guardian Rose being indisposed, Lord Shaxx conscripted the help of several other Guardians to field test the prototypes. They all worked for the most part. They did jam on occasions but those were due to the wielders putting too much strain that the prototype gunswords could handle.

Despite this setback, Shaxx was not deterred in the least. What kind of Titan would he be if he faltered at an intriguing challenge such as this?

To better his craft, the Titan spent his time after the war in Remnant to study the forging and mechanics of mecha-shift weapons through the textbooks in Beacon Academy's library. However, books could not teach one everything that was needed to forge a mecha-shift weapon so he thought that it would be more prudent to observe an actual master blacksmith for weapons at work.

Fortunately, the mission that Shaxx and Team JNPR were on took them to a village with a reputable blacksmith. After the first year team thinned down the Grimm population and his Redjacks dispose of the Vex remains, the Lord would be able to spend time in the blacksmith's workshop and soak up as much knowledge on the crafting of mecha-shift weapons as possible.

It was a 'killing three dregs with one bullet' kind of situation, really.

00000

Black. That was the color along with some white and red was all that the silver eyes of Shin Malphur could see and his eyes could see from very far away.

Grimm of all shapes and sizes were assembled before the Gunslinger in a massive horde of shadowy bodies as their vicious red eyes glared at him as if he had personally wronged them.

"When Lord Saladin mentioned that I would have to fight my way through to get to a safe zone, I don't think he meant this many," Shin said to his Ghost as he stared at the army of Darkness in a pseudo-stand off.

"You always seem to attract all sorts of trouble," his Ghost told him as he drew the Last Word from its holster, "A trait that I'm beginning to think is a part of being a member of the Roseus."

"I still think Summer has me beat there. I never managed to rediscover a lost civilization on my own before," he replied as he flicked the cylinder of his hand cannon open and observed the ammunition within the chambers, "And for once, I don't think I brought enough bullets."

"You say that like the Last Word is your only method of combat."

The army of Grimm started to rapidly advance towards the Gunslinger. Flicking the cylinder back into place, Shin's right hand squeezed the trigger of his hand cannon while his other hand pushed the hammer down after discharging a round, which dispatched eight Grimm before having to reload. Rinse and repeat.

"It isn't the only one but it _is_ my most favorite one," he retorted as he decided to take it up another notch by calling out the Golden Gun in his other hand.

He wasn't just _a_ Gunslinger. He was _the_ Gunslinger and he was going to show these Grimm why.

His personal Golden Gun was an almost identical copy of the Last Word if it wasn't for the fact that it was on fire. Since he was the progenitor of the Golden Gun, Shin Malphur's control over it was beyond anyone else's so he could produce much more than the limited three shots for his Golden Gun. It also allowed him to cheat a bit by creating solar-infused rounds and adding them into the Last Word's chambers, essentially giving him two Golden Guns to wield.

Wielding both the Golden Gun and the Solar-empowered Last Word, Shin's onslaught quickly decimated the Grimm ranks where each monster he killed expired in a fiery explosion, eliminating more Grimm in the process.

Eventually, the Gunslinger ran out of the necessary juice to power his signature technique but by that time only handfuls of Grimm were left standing. It will take some time before he could perform a feat like that again. Maybe after a few hours when his Light had been replenished but right now, he will just kill the remaining the old fashioned way by shooting them with regular (as regular as Light-infused rounds can be anyway) bullets.

With all hostiles gone, Shin Malphur holstered the Last Word with a twirl before he materialized his sparrow and continued his trek through the hazardous wilderness of Remnant. This lone Gunslinger was still ways off from the nearest civilization and he was planning on rectifying that soon enough.

"Now which way is Vale again?"

00000

Meanwhile, the Queen of the Grimm snapped her red eyes open in alarm. She emerged from the tar-like pit where she was recuperating the wounds sustained from her battle against Dredgen Vena and a flicker of anger crossed her expression before she smoothed out her features. But if one were to look closely, they could tell from how her hands were balled into slightly trembling fists that she attempting to conceal how nervous she really was.

"Another survivor of that accursed order," Salem spat the words out like they were venom as she glared hatefully towards the horizon where she sensed the damned Silver-eyed warrior come from. Not only that but the warrior also happened to be a _Guardian_!

Salem utterly loathed to admit it but she was really out of her depth against the Guardians from the Last City of Earth so she needed the Shadows of Yor's assistance now more than ever.


	7. Juniper

AN:

As regards to the name of Shin Malphur's Ghost, some of you suggested names that were a reference to old cowboy movies, others wanted simple and generic names like Bob or Dave while one reviewer in particular wanted to name his Ghost Thorn. The first two were okay but the last one was just plain ridiculous on multiple levels so there is no way in hell am I ever going to name Shin's Ghost Thorn.

No offense to the Guest reviewer who suggested the name in the first place but you are aware that Shin's Ghost already had a name given to it by Jaren Ward prior to pairing up with Shin, right? Also, I doubt he needs anymore reminders of the guy who destroyed his home and killed his family. Geez, have a little more tact.

00000

Chapter 7

Team JNPR had promise. That was what Lord Shaxx concluded as he silently observed the first year team's progress from afar. The veteran Titan saw no need to intervene since they seemed to have the situation well under control as they dispatched the Grimm through their unique fighting styles. He also had to suppress the urge to make a commentary as the children fought because not only was this not a Crucible match but it was also an actual life or death predicament for them and unlike a Guardian, they wouldn't be able to resurrect from dying.

It had been quite some time since Shaxx had to watch over someone that didn't possess the same resilience as a Guardian. Not since the Battle of the Twilight Gap where the Fallen Houses banded together to take the Last City if he recalled correctly.

The Lord was broken out of his reminiscing when a Beowolf broke through the tree line and was about to flank him, no doubt deeming the Titan as easy prey.

That was the worst mistake that the poor creature would ever make. It also happened to be its last.

"Look out!" the boy dressed in green clothes called out to the Titan in warning as he took his magenta eyes off of the enemies before him.

It was a pointless act that only served to distract the boy known as Lie Ren since the first year student was nearly mauled by an Ursa for his trouble while Lord Shaxx was already moving to act before the boy even opened his mouth to issue the warning.

The Titan swept his arm to the side, catching the charging Beowolf on the jaw with a ruthless backhand. A loud crack reverberated across the Vex graveyard as the lupine Grimm was sent crashing through several trees, sending splinters and leaves flying in its wake. It was already dead before it even hit the first tree.

With his other arm, Shaxx drew his scout rifle and fired a round into the skull of the ursine Grimm that almost mauled the R of Team JNPR. He then proceeded to discharge a bullet into more Grimm that were in the midst of stampeding out of the tree line.

"Do not _ever_ take your eyes off the enemy unless you are utterly assured of their death," Lord Shaxx warned in a tone that even gave the surrounding Grimm pause as the magazine of his scout rifle slid out and he slammed in a fresh one, "Understood."

It may have been just Ren who had the momentary lapse in attention but the warning was definitely directed at Team JNPR as a whole they franticly nodded their heads. Hell, even the freaking Grimm were nodding along with them and the creatures of Darkness were logically supposed to not have understood human communication.

"Good," Shaxx grunted in slight satisfaction at seeing his point being taken seriously as he slung his rifle on his back, "Now resume your battle."

Without further prompting, the vile creatures of Darkness and the brave first year team of Beacon Academy flung themselves at each other to eliminate the opposing side as if to appease the Titan watching with a vigilant gaze.

Assured that things were running along smoothly again, Lord Shaxx took several steps back to better watch the battle commence from the sidelines. He then began to assess the members of Team JNPR with a more in-depth analysis of their fighting styles.

You could judge a person's character on how they present themselves on the battlefield better than psychoanalyzing them during social interactions. The battlefield was what brought a person's true self to light for there was no need for the masks that people wore in public to hide what they were too afraid to show to the world. When their very life was on the edge, they were all but forced to discard that very same mask for it would only serve as dead weight in the end.

And Guardians were faced with this every time that they step into hostile territory. Lightbearers may be capable of reviving themselves upon death but it didn't discount the fact that dying was an extremely unpleasant experience. No matter how many times a Guardian went through the act of dying, it would always be rather jarring and near mind-breaking.

It was no wonder that the mundane populace of the Last City usually saw the protectors of humanity as somewhat broken or distorted at times. After all, how could anyone who lived in safety their whole life possibly relate to someone that risked life and limb everyday in order to defend those weaker than themselves?

Although, psychologists always had a field day whenever they attempted to scan the brain of a Guardian.

00000

The Exo Hunter was given an empty office room in Beacon Academy so that he could do his work as a member of the Vanguard in relative privacy. He said 'relative' privacy because there were numerous bugs concealed all over the room. No doubt they were placed there by order of the Council to spy on him since he was pretty much an unknown and definitely had plenty of secrets that the wrong people could take advantage of.

Unfortunately for whoever was spying on Cayde, Remnant's anti-hacking contingencies were just plain shitty compared to the standards of the security software back in the Sol System. It was child's play for his Ghost to feed a continuous loop to the bugs and it was what allowed him to schedule a private job interview for someone that was wanted by the Vale police department.

"So I heard that you've expressed interest in signing up for a job with the Guardians," Cayde-6 started as he took a seat across the person that he was interviewing, "But we also have accounts of your rather…colorful background."

The interviewee appeared to be a young that was short in stature and yet somehow still had a well defined womanly figure for someone of that size should have. Her hair and clothes were multi-colored in brown, white and pink like the Neopolitan ice cream that her name originated from. Her round face also sported a curious expression as heterochromatic eyes stared intensely at the Exo.

The criminal called Neopolitan nodded her head as she beamed up at him like an adorable little imp. She also had yet to say a word since having met the Exo Hunter so she expressed herself through different nonverbal means that wasn't writing. If Cayde had not seen the same thing with his fellow Vanguard member, Ikora Rey, then he would have been baffled how a person's eyebrows could express so much meaning in them.

Plus, the signs that Neo somehow managed to conjure out of nowhere helped in mutual communication between them.

"No pun intended," the Hunter Vanguard corrected with a sour taste in his mouth after having realized his mistake. It seemed that not only Lux Sylphid was infected by the pun fever Summer Rose gave her so he had to watch his speech even more carefully from now on.

The multi-colored girl deflated a bit after he said that he didn't mean to make the pun earlier but she quickly schooled her features to be more presentable.

" _Oh right, now I remember why Summer recommended this girl,"_ Cayde bitterly thought as he recollected the reason why the White Rose wanted the Vanguard to recruit Neopolitan.

It wasn't because of Neo's extensive skills in combat, infiltration, engineering, assassination or even the ability to conjure illusions. The reason was something that had absolutely nothing to do with those things and what he should have expected from the White Rose.

For some twisted and unknown reason, Neopolitan also enjoyed puns much like Summer and some of her extended family here on Remnant.

Seriously, what was it about this planet that spawned people who loved puns of all things?

That reminded Cayde that he still hadn't gotten around to killing Taiyang Xiao Long yet because his time had been so preoccupied by his duties as a Vanguard that he didn't even concocted a method to kill (or at the very least maim) the elder yellow dragon without alerting Summer that it was his doing.

"Okay, moving on. You gave us quite a detailed résumé and we were able to determine through our sources that it spoke nothing but the truth," Cayde said as he perused the document that Neo provided to him, "Things have been getting tense back on Earth and our enemies are becoming bolder so we could use a highly skilled infiltrator such as yourself to invade enemy lines and preferably kill some important alien."

"I'm also obliged to mention that you will being traveling to different planets to assassinate the target through whatever means necessary just as long as it doesn't endanger innocent people or your allies."

The mute girl fiendishly grinned at the thought of finally accomplishing her lifelong dream of going on an adventure through space like in her favorite sci-fi novels.

Cayde didn't really understand the ice cream-themed girl's desire for a space adventure since it was basically the norm for the people of the Sol System. What the Hunter Vanguard did understand however was the thrill of discovering new things and places to explore.

"Alright, the only thing left to do is to sign a couple of documents and not only will you be considered an official citizen of the Last City but you will also be an agent of the Vanguard," the Exo materialized a tablet much like a scroll where it displayed the official documents for Neo's migration to Earth as he offered a stylus to the diminutive girl.

"Do remember that we _can_ and _will_ kill you if you violate the terms of your contract so I suggest you read the fine print very carefully before you sign it," he interjected as she was about to take the tablet and the stylus from him.

Nibbling on her bottom lip, Neo had a thoughtful look on her face before she took the tablet from the Hunter Vanguard. She then wordlessly vanished in a flash of white light, no doubt to study the documents in detail before she came to a decision.

However, Cayde had a feeling that this Neo character would still cause some form of trouble in spite of accepting the restrictions dictated by the contract. The Hunter Vanguard's other student was going to be responsible for Neopolitan though if she did agree to become an agent of the Vanguard so it was better to let Shiro-4 handle her instead.

Now that was taken care of, Cayde still had to negotiate with the Councils of Remnant to set up a series of communications satellites to contact the Last City more efficiently and to allow passage for unpaired Ghosts in search of a Guardian.

"Salutations!" the door to his office didn't so much as slam open but more like exploded to let the green blur that was Bartholomew Oobleck burst into the room, "I know that you are very busy, my good sir but I am here to inquire about the request to step foot on planet Earth that I sent to you earlier! It is not everyday that one is faced with the opportunity to-"

At this point, Cayde simply stopped paying attention whatever the doctor was babbling about at rapid speeds as his face slammed onto the top of his desk with a loud thud. Not noticing the Exo's plight, Dr. Oobleck went on and on about whatever caught his fancy concerning the Guardians' culture and history as the highest ranking Guardian on Remnant contemplated shooting himself.

It was going to be one of those days, wasn't it?

00000

Lord Shaxx didn't really approve of sending children to the battlefield but he did have to admit that Team JNPR was still an effective combat unit at least for low leveled mission like this.

Lie Ren, the boy that the Titan saved earlier, moved with a purposeful grace as he either peppered the enemy with automatic fire from his guns or dealt decisive blows with the long blades attached to his guns. Occasionally, he would hurl his weapons like they were throwing stars as he demonstrated that his hand-to-hand combat skills were enough to dispatch Grimm in a single concentrated strike before retrieving his thrown weapons.

What the boy had in speed and finesse, he lacked the endurance to take a blow so his preferred defensive method was to dodge. He also seemed a bit…distracted as if he carried an enormous burden upon his shoulders. The boy kept up a calm façade but there was a certain tenseness in his eyes whenever he eliminated a Grimm. Like there was an almost desperate edge to them.

Lord Shaxx had seen eyes like those before in his long career as a Guardian. Those were the eyes of someone searching for revenge. No matter how much the boy tried to hide it, he could see that hunger for vengeance as clear as day and the possibility of the boy losing himself to revenge was quite high especially for people young like him. These dark urges always festered the best during the early stages of a person's life.

As for the boy's partner, Nora Valkyrie, she was quite the ball of energy that even put Guardian Rose to shame, an incredible feat in and of itself. Where Lie Ren utilized quick and decisive strikes, Valkyrie used overwhelming force and firepower to vanquish her foes with her grenade launcher/warhammer hybrid.

She also had no concern for collateral damage as trees fell and craters were formed in her wake so the rest of Team JNPR had the foresight to position her as far away from the androids as possible.

It wasn't all that successful however since Shaxx was forced to summon a wide wall of Void energy to defend his Redjacks from a stray grenade. The Titan didn't really put in the same effort to save the Atlesian Knights from being blown to pieces though because the Redjacks were his property and not the Atlesian androids. Atlas may have insisted that their androids be brought along but Lord Shaxx was not going to go out of his way to ensure the safety of the androids that weren't his so he didn't mind all too much of the orange haired girl breaking the AK androids.

Jaune Arc, the leader of Team JNPR was by far the weakest of the group. The blond boy may have the necessary physical conditioning to catch up to his teammates but his overall combat skills were severely lacking compared to the rest of them. It was as if he only had a few years of training as opposed to the near lifelong training of everyone else. He was by no means a novice but in the face of his peers, he might as well be.

Although his overall physical performance didn't really leave much to be desired from, he more than made it up with his tactical prowess as he played to the strengths of his teammates and took advantage of the adversaries' weaknesses when the right opportunity was presented. He was more the brains of Team JNPR than another of its muscles.

While the Arc boy's talents could be put to much better use at the back, he had the courage to stand with his comrades on the front lines, which was something that Lord Shaxx could respect albeit a miniscule amount.

As admirable as it was to lead your troops on the front line, it was a poor idea to let yourself become a liability.

Pyrrha Nikos had proven to be the most talented fighter of Team JNPR. She weaved through Grimm after Grimm, cutting them down with near flawless precision. No single movement was wasted and only served to bring the odds to her favor as her weapons transitioned to a sword, spear and a rifle as easily as breathing.

Lord Shaxx could also see a distinct amount of similarities in fighting styles with the sword and shield between Pyrrha Nikos and Jaune Arc so either they both studied under the same taskmaster or the red headed girl was the one to have taught him, which spoke of the girl's prodigious talents even more to have. The Titan couldn't help but be impressed by her in spite of himself.

It was a shame that the most naturally talented ones were usually the first to die in war. They let their gifts get the best of them and start believing that they would pull through no matter the situation. Or worse, they would throw themselves headfirst into unwinnable battles because they believed it was their duty to discard their lives to overturn a hopeless predicament.

It didn't matter if they succeeded or not. Shaxx had seen too many young Guardians paid the ultimate sacrifice only for that same sacrifice to be in vain. He had witnessed too many promising students perish to stall the armies of the Hive prince, Crota so Earth would not fall.

Who knew that watching these young warriors would bring back such depressing memories of his? Nevertheless, it wasn't wise to dwell on the past when the future was right before him.

Lie Ren swiped his blades at a Beowolf, severing its jugular as Jaune Arc raised his shield to redirect a Boarbatusk's charge away from his green cladded teammate where it was smashed into the earth from Nora Valkyrie bringing her hammer down on its porcine form. Arc then bashed his shield at a Beowolf's muzzle as his sword swung down to bifurcate another Grimm while Pyrrha Nikos slid between his legs and fired at several Grimm with her rifle to serve as a distraction before her gun transformed into a spear and was swung in a wide arc, cutting those same Grimm in half.

Lie weaved in between Grimm, delivering debilitating slashes on their hides while at the same time, herding them together. After disabling their movements, he leapt away as Valkyrie came barreling in and swung her mighty hammer before maximizing it by detonating a grenade from the head of the hammer, hitting all of the grouped up Grimm in a single explosive strike so they went bowling over their fellow Grimm.

Valkyrie cheered at the feat, not seeing the Creep that was sneaking its way behind her. Before it could sink its teeth into the girl's back, Lie kicked the Grimm in the side, knocking it away from his partner. The girl grinned at her friend in gratitude as she transformed her hammer into its grenade launcher form before finished off the Creep (any other Grimm in its vicinity) with a salvo of explosives.

Being highlighted by the pink explosions in the background, Arc and Nikos stood back to back with their weapons raised. The blond boy cried out in surprise as the girl pushed his head and vaulted over his shoulders to plunge her spear into the maw of the Beowolf behind him. Regaining his bearings, Arc raised his shield to block an overhead swipe from an Ursa before knocking the paw to the side and decapitating it with his sword.

Turning on her heel, Nikos slid her weapon free from the Beowolf's skull so that she could slash two more incoming Grimm while flinging shield like an oversized discus. The edges of the shield were not really sharp but at the speeds that it was going, it was enough to perforate a line of Grimm completely before bouncing off a tree and back into its owner's hand. Shifting her spear into its rifle form, she placed on top of her shield to act as a stabilizer while Lie and Valkyrie took their positions by her side. Like an impromptu firing squad, they let out of a barrage of bullets and grenades as their leader, Arc glanced at his simple sword and dejectedly slumped down at his apparent uselessness for this particular formation.

Lord Shaxx idly tilted his head to the side as an unfortunate Grimm was sent flying towards his direction so it sailed over his shoulder instead of hitting him. It appeared that Team JNPR was so caught up in their fight with the Grimm that they have forgotten about the fact that he was overseeing their progress. If he was their combat instructor, he would have given them a harsh reprimand and make certain to improve on their battle awareness so that something like this would not happen again.

It was unfortunate that he wasn't their instructor though.

Wait a minute…

The Titan then remembered that the combat schools of Remnant had cancelled classes for now, leaving the Huntsmen in training no place where they could learn under a professional's supervision while he had made it his life's work to aid in the development of fine young warriors.

Well, it appeared that Lord Shaxx had another hobby he could do to occupy his spare time here on Remnant.

As he imagined the possible outcomes of a team of Huntsmen (albeit in training) receiving the same kind of vigorous training as a Guardian, a message icon popped up on HUD of Shaxx's helmet. Seeing that it was marked red for the highest priority, he swiftly opened it to check what it contained, which made him pause in both alarm and intrigue.

After reading the message, Lord Shaxx turned to call out to the members of the first year team, "Team JNPR, a Geist Grimm has been sighted within the area! Locate it at once before it can-"

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEKKKK!" an ungodly loud shriek cut off whatever the Titan was going to say.

"Never mind, it appears that Mr. Arc has located the Geist," Shaxx drily stated before wincing under his helmet and muttering under his breath, "By the Traveler, that boy can scream."


	8. Tempered Flames

AN:

Is anyone interested in drawing a concept art for gunblade!Necrochasm? I was thinking of like a cross between a daedric sword from Skyrim and the gunsword that one of the members of Team CRDL had (I forget which). It looked pretty cool in my head but I don't think I described it well when I checked chapter 3 so it would be kind of awesome if someone could sketch it out since I suck at drawing.

Just a heads-up, this chapter is gonna be pretty action-packed so you better pick some appropriate battle music to listen to.

00000

Chapter 8

The oceans on Remnant weren't really different than the ones back on Earth was what Shin Malphur noted as he watched the waves go by from where he sat, perched on the railings. Even the blue sky above reminded the Gunslinger of the home planet as the sun casted its warm rays down upon the world of Remnant, including him and the passenger ship that he was able to hitch a ride on.

In hindsight, he should have waited to have the mod installed into his sparrow to allow it to function over water so he was forced to cross the ocean through the good old fashioned way, which was to swim to Vale himself. It wasn't something that he hadn't already done in the past but he still didn't enjoy doing it in spite of the workout. Luckily, he came across a Mistralian passenger ship during its voyage.

The ship that Shin stumbled upon was an engine-powered ocean liner made mostly out of wood. The ship's rooms appeared to be mostly cabins for the passengers on the ship as indicated by the many windows below deck. It also had the symbol of Mistral on the starboard to show the allegiance or where the sea vessel originated from.

And for a ship meant to transport passengers on the maritime routes, it had some decent firepower to its name with six cannons each on the starboard and port side and one main cannon on the bow. Those weapons were a prudent and necessary precaution to fend of the various Grimm that roamed the sea.

In fact, Shin Malphur stumbled upon the ship by chance while it was under attack from a particularly large sea Grimm so he quickly went to the passengers and the crew's aid. Judging from the still intact state of the ship and the boisterous atmosphere of the people on board, it was safe to assume that they were successfully able to thwart the Grimm attack. Grateful from his timely intervention, the captain of the ship promised him passage to Vale along with food and board. Even though he didn't really need to eat or sleep anymore, he figured it would be rude to refuse.

Dematerializing his helmet and lowering his hood, Shin leaned his head back and let the sun beams caress the bare skin of his face. Dark brown locks of hair with maroon tips brushed past his neck as he closed his silver eyes in contentment. A long thin scar, going down from the left side of his forehead, across the bridge of his nose and ending at his right cheek, marred his otherwise youthful features; a painful reminder to keep Hive Knights far from Cleaver-swinging distance.

It had been quite some time since he had the opportunity to just relax like this so he was going to savor every moment.

Even in his docile state, he still had enough awareness of his surroundings to hear the light tapping of boots on the wooden deck of the ship as the person approached him from behind and to his left.

"Do you find the accommodations to your liking, Guardian?" the captain of the ship inquired as he sidled up next to Shin to watch the ocean horizon with him.

The captain was an old man with grey hair and beard. He was dressed in a dark green naval uniform, denoting his rank as captain. His brown eyes glanced at the Gunslinger with a friendly and curious gleam in them.

"It is adequate," he simply said as he continued to stare at the large expanse of blue. The Gunslinger didn't bother correcting the man that he wasn't a Guardian. Hadn't been one for many years after leaving the City. If anything, he was a semi-retired one.

"Hah, I would hope so," the captain guffawed in good nature as he turned to grin at Shin, "It would be in poor taste if me and my crew treated our savior with disrespect."

"To each their own," Malphur shrugged as if silently saying 'what can you do?". Not everyone was grateful for a Guardian's help especially for those that lived outside of the City. A good number of them refused to forget the suffering that their ancestors endured under the tyranny of the Warlords and that same hatred was unjustly applied to every Guardian, both new and old.

"That it is but I myself want to ensure every passenger on my ship is fed good and proper," the old man (still pretty young compared to the Gunslinger though) stated, "And that reminds me, the chef told me that you haven't eaten much since you got on board."

"I'm trained to not need to eat so much," Shin told him. It was an oversimplification of the training that Guardians underwent to quit the habit of eating altogether. Most people on Earth already knew that a Guardian didn't really need to eat so they stopped offering the Lightbearers food as gifts. The same could not be said for Remnant though.

"Well, I guess you Guardians are made of much sterner stuff than us common folk."

Considering that the biology of a Guardian was drastically altered by the Light after being revived from the dead, it was an apt description to make.

"You still gave us quite the scare when that Kraken Grimm dragged you underwater."

The Kraken was said to be a mythical monster that dwelled beneath ocean depths where it lied in wait to drag unfortunate ships to its underwater lair, never to be seen again. It supposedly did not exist or if it did, it had long ago died out but here on Remnant, they had their own Grimm variant of the aquatic beast to contend with and it matched the legends in practically every way.

Shin Malphur also experienced the Kraken's preferred method of killing its prey firsthand when it wrapped its tentacles around his form and forcibly sent him plummeting into the water. From that incident alone, he decided that he had more than enough tentacles to last him a dozen lifetimes.

"We thought you were done for, apparent immortality or not but not only did you manage to escape the Kraken's grasp, a feat never before seen I might add, you were also able to slay the beast. How did you do that anyway?"

Taking the curious inquiry into consideration, Shin Malphur stared down at the waters where he nearly met his demise at the hands of an Elder Grimm. Not counting the war against the Taken King and his army a few months ago, that was one of the toughest battles he had been through this year.

00000

 _Earlier_

Pitched black tentacles curled around Shin Malphur's body with the strength of an industrial grade hydraulic press, eliciting a groan from under his helmet. A single red orb the size of a small car peered down at him with absolute loathing as its bulbous main body hovered above a collection of wrecked ships, no doubt its past victims. The red eye of the Kraken turned away from him so that it could introduce to him to what constituted as its mouth as a wide opening lined with hundreds of razor sharp teeth filled up his vision.

"Oh hell no!" Shin exclaimed in defiance as he began to gather power for his escape, "I am _not_ tearing my way out of another monster's stomach again!"

The Kraken screeched in pain as the tentacles holding the Gunslinger were suddenly inflicted with searing cuts, forcing it to let go of its apparent prey. The sea Grimm reared back on instinct to put some distance from the danger and yet it was close enough to engage that same danger if needed.

"Come get some," Shin taunted the creature of Darkness as he now brandished new weapons in his hands.

These new weapons were long and slender rapier-like swords with blades measuring over one meter and extremely short hilts, looking more likely to be used to thrust than slash at the opponent but they were still sharp enough to do either especially when he channeled a lot of heat into them to do so. Their design was more akin to a dirk than an actual sword though. They were also held by their wielder in a rather unorthodox manner as Shin held multiple blades at once in a fan formation between the fingers of each hand, meaning that he carried a maximum of four blades in each hand.

Screeching at its prey's challenge, the Kraken swung several of its appendages at the renegade Hunter only for four long and thin blades to impale themselves into the attacking limbs with enough strength behind throws to stop them dead in their tracks. Another four blades cut through the water with little to no resistance and slipped through the momentary gaps of the Kraken's flailing tentacles to stab into the main body.

Of course, their primary function wasn't to act as a melee weapon but rather as a throwing weapon. Being underwater, Shin couldn't use the Last Word since its design wasn't originally intended for this kind of situation. A zero gravity environment maybe but not completely submerged like this so he had to use his custom throwing weapons that could also function for close combat.

Slipping more dirks in between his fingers, Shin was able to evade the retaliatory limbs by timely twisting his body out of the way, slashing at the offending tentacle as it passed him by. He even used the Kraken's tentacles as springboards as he kicked off of them to propel himself closer to the main body until he got a good angle of its big crimson eye.

Seeing his target, the renegade Hunter hurled all eight of the dirks in his hands at the eye of the Grimm but this Grimm had lived for a long now so it soon realized what he was trying to do. It swiftly raised two of its limbs to shield its most vulnerable spot and the eight blades pierced them with so much force that the tips of all eight blades burst out from the other side of its tentacles.

The Kraken bellowed in both agony and fury as it reared back all of its appendages to spear the oldest member of the Roseus. Unperturbed, Shin Malphur simply snapped his fingers, the action somehow reverberating through the water despite it being impossible to do so.

As if the loud sound was some kind of activation sequence, every dirk still impaling the various parts of the Kraken started to glow white hot, burning the creature of Grimm from the inside out from the immense heat. Once it reached a certain point, the blades then detonated with volatile force, riddling the Kraken with fiery explosions all over its body.

Not only did Shin Malphur invented the Golden Gun technique but he also coined a majority of the Gunslinger subclass' abilities, including the technique where a Hunter imbued their knife with Solar flames to ignite the enemy. After developing it, he continued to improve on it for many more years until he achieved this result.

He could now store the Solar flames into his blades and compress the energy in such a way that the blade wouldn't even emit the heat until he let it. Upon releasing it, the result was akin to igniting a can of pressurized air, which was an explosion of fire so powerful that not even being deep underwater was enough to instantly quell its wrath.

Even though he bombarded the Grimm with enough firepower to completely decimate a tank, the Kraken was still kicking in spite of the multitude of third degree burns on its body. The Grimm also learned its lesson that a direct attack would prove fruitless so its tentacles reached for the collected water debris around instead of heading towards the Gunslinger.

The tentacles curled around various debris before they were violently hurled towards Shin Malphur at deadly speeds. Shin swiftly pulled out more dirks and imbued them with his Solar Light as all eight blades went ablaze with otherworldly flames, burning unabated from all of the water. He flipped himself over to position himself so that now his feet were facing behind him. Crossing his arms, Shin kicked off as he poured out streams of fire out from the soles of his boots to propel himself forward like pseudo-rockets.

He may not have been a Warlock but his mastery over the Solar attribute of Light could give any Warlock a run for their glimmer. Besides, a maneuver like this was more well suited to a zero-g environment since Traveler knew how many of his jumpships were shot down, forcing him to adapt lest he float aimlessly in the void of space for eternity. Or at least until he happened to bump into another spaceship.

Shin Malphur cut through the waters towards the Kraken as his blades cleanly sliced through the debris thrown at him like a hot knife through really soft butter. Seeing that the first volley was ineffective, the Kraken reached down for more ammunition, which it promptly threw at his way only for the renegade Hunter to slice those in half as well.

He knew that throwing explosives blades at the Kraken was his most effective strategy against the beast but due to how thick its chitinous hide was, it was going to take some time for it to succumb to his assaults. As a general rule, it was always a terrible idea to fight in a location where the enemy had the home field advantage. Even though he held his own quite well at the moment, the deep depths of the sea was where the Kraken thrived the best and it would do him no favors if he had a prolonged battle underwater of all places. So he had to finish this quickly with one decisive blow. Fortunately for him, he had the right technique to do just that and he only needed to get closer to the Grimm to unleash it.

Formulating another strategy, the Kraken's main body began to expand like a balloon taking in more air or to be more apt, a balloon taking in more water. Once it grew to more than twice its already massive size, it opened its toothy maw and spat out half a dozen compressed balls of water.

The compressed spheres of water were spinning so rapidly that they were visible enough to look like pockets of air underwater and Shin was under no illusion that they wouldn't hurt immensely should even just _one_ of them hit him head on. Because of his body being subjected to the pressure of the deep sea, his mobility was vastly limited and even with his rocket maneuver, he wouldn't be able to avoid the barrage entirely. The best that he could was intercept those water spheres before they could hit him.

Taking a split second to aim, Shin threw his dirks in rapid succession, flinging the projectiles so fast that it looked like he moved his arm only once. The tips of his dirks pierced the outer edge of the compressed balls where the blades detonated upon impacted, cancelling out the pressurized water with timely fiery explosions and leaving nothing but clouds of steam-filled bubbles.

Without warning, Shin Malphur emerged from the clouds of bubbles before hurling the last of the dirks in his hands where it skewered all of the Kraken's tentacles and left the main body open. By the time that the Grimm regained its bearings, the renegade Hunter had already crossed the distance between them.

"It's over!" Shin yelled in finality as silver lights poured out of his visor and engulfed his entire body, transforming him into a missile of pure Light. Even before the attack touched it, the Grimm could feel parts of its flesh disintegrating from just being in close proximity to it.

The Kraken roared one last time in defiance as the giant spear of Light that was Shin Malphur collided with its form before tearing through its main body and bursting out from its back, leaving a gaping five meter sized hole on the Grimm. The Light around the victorious Hunter dispersed as he floated triumphantly behind the slain monster.

00000

"I challenged it to a staring contest," was the Gunslinger's blunt response, earning a baffled look from the captain, "Naturally, I won."

"Right, must be one of your fancy Guardian gimmicks," the captain shrugged, seeing that he wasn't going to get a straight answer from the Hunter.

"Something like that," Shin replied, not willing to fully elaborate. He may be quite a famous figure to the people of Earth but only a select few truly knew of his heritage as a Roseus. He preferred to keep it that way since he had no intentions of being treated as a livestock breeder if the Consensus discovered his hidden lineage. As fun as it might be, he didn't wish to bed numerous women in the vain hope that they bore a child with silver eyes like him and Summer.

The inheritance of the Roseus' gift didn't work like that but there was a lot people in the Consensus too ignorant that it wouldn't dissuade them in the least. It also didn't help that he somehow didn't become as sterile as every other Guardian. The exact reason for his retained fertility was unknown but Shin guessed it was because he had never died once even when he bonded with Jaren Ward's Ghost, a feat that not many Guardians could attest to doing the same.

No, it was for the best that the existence of the Roseus was kept a secret and as friendly and trustworthy as the captain had proven to be, it just wasn't enough to be let in on the secret.

"I can see that you have some skeletons in the closet so I won't pry," the captain told him as he turned to walk away, "A man's secrets are his own and it best be respected."

"Wise words indeed," Shin nodded in agreement.

"Oh, that's right," the old man halted in his tracks as he turned his head to look over his shoulder, "We'll be arriving to Vale pretty soon. You'd best prepare whatever you need before we make it ashore."

True to the captain's words, Shin's keen eyes could make out an outline of a city in the distance and from the rate that it was getting clearer, it would take about half an hour before they make port and enter the city proper.

"Much obliged," the Gunslinger inclined his head at the news that the captain gave him.

"Hah! Don't mention it, Guardian."

Once the captain was out of sight, Shin materialized his helmet over his head and raised his hood. He rolled his shoulders back, feeling a satisfying pop in his limbs. Drawing the Last Word from its holster, he examined the hand cannon one more time to ascertain that it was still functioning properly, more out of habit than necessity.

Satisfied with the state of his precious gun, he holstered the Last Word with a twirl and spoke into his helmet's internal comms, "Got any interesting news about Vale, Clint?"

Clint was Jaren Ward's former partner and now Shin Malphur's after the former's death. If Jaren Ward was basically like a father to him, then old Clint was like the uncle that he never had and he was glad for the Ghost's company during these many years. It was as if he still had a piece of Jaren with him and he knew that Clint felt the same way about him.

"Nothing that would hinder us from meeting up with Guardian Rose again," Clint said, responding through the internal comms in kind, "I only hope that this meeting would turn out better than the first time we met her."

"It wasn't that bad," Shin shrugged.

"You tried to kill her," his Ghost retorted in a blank tone, "I am more than certain that was beyond 'bad'."

"It's not like it's the first time I've done it. Besides, she calls me 'uncle' now."

"That doesn't make it better!"

00000

A Geist was a possession-type Grimm, capable of controlling any objects that it possessed as extensions of its own body. It also had the troublesome feature of being inherently smarter than its bestial counterparts due to how its kind was much rarer than the commonplace animal ones.

"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!"

Lord Shaxx stepped to the side to avoid the screaming form of Jaune Arc as he watched the rest of Team JNPR engage the Geist. The first year team was making no progress in subduing the rock form that the Geist had assumed, their weapons proving ineffective on its rocky body.

Prior to encountering this particular genus of Grimm, the Geist had assumed control of several large boulders to form its current form. It was now approximately three stories tall and wide as a barn with its arms being much bigger in size compared to its rather stubby in comparison legs. It was uncertain if it was intentional or not but the Geist's Petra Gigas form was similar in appearance to the monolithic statues of old.

The Geist's Petra Gigas form wasn't just for intimidation. It also wielded the defensive and offensive capabilities that its form possessed that only member of Team JNPR able to deal significant damage to it was Nora Valkyrie for obvious reasons. However, the possession-type Grimm merely replaced whatever parts that Ms. Valkyrie manage to destroy.

And from the way the Geist would eye the Vex remains on occasion, it sought to add the alien wreckage to make up its form, which was most likely why it made its appearance in this area where a battle against the Vex took place.

As amusing as it would be to watch Team JNPR combat this threat, Lord Shaxx could not allow the Geist to achieve its goal. He would have to step in and personally handle the Geist. Hearing the determined war cry of Jaune Arc, Lord Shaxx raised his arm to the side, barring the boy from continuing further.

"Your team has performed better than I expected, Mr. Arc," the Titan said to the leader of Team JNPR, "But I will deal with this Geist, _personally_."

Jaune audibly gulped at the Crucible handler's ironclad tone as he now felt sorry for the Grimm. Voice slightly cracking, he called out to his teammates, "G-guys! Fall back!"

"Hm?" the other members of Team JNPR turned to stare at their leader in confusion for the strange order. A split second later, a loud boom resounded from behind them, alerting the first year team that only did they take their eyes off of the enemy but they also lost sight of Lord Shaxx.

"What did I tell you about never taking your eyes off of the enemy unless you're absolutely certain of its death?" the Titan reminded in an annoyed tone as he somehow repositioned himself between Team JNPR and the Geist.

The first year students were left in awe not at the feat of extreme speeds that the lord pulled off but at how he held back the great rock-fist of the Geist with only _one_ hand. It was something that they have only seen the blonde brawler of Team RWBY pull off once but only after her semblance augmented her strength to an insane amount. For the Titan to do the same except with no apparent semblance was beyond incredible.

"I shall lecture the four of you about proper battlefield awareness later," Lord Shaxx said, not even showing signs of strain from holding the Petra Gigas in place, "For now, make sure that the mission is completed while I proceed to eliminate this Grimm."

The Titan clenched his grip on the Petra Gigas' fist, causing the stone to crack from the pressure. He reared his free hand back and then smashed it against the stone knuckles that he held in place, instantly shattering the fist and the entire limb into dust. Staggering from the powerful blow, the Geist didn't have enough time to possess another inanimate object to restore its lost limb before Shaxx slammed his shoulder into its torso and sent the both of them flying deeper into the forest, reducing any tree caught up in their path into splinters.

As they tumbled over each other, the Geist's remaining stone arm snatched the Titan's form and tossed him to the side. Shaxx crashed into the ground and cascades of dirt and splinters erupted from where he landed as if a meteor had crashed instead of a human albeit heavily armored body. Taking this moment to recuperate, the Geist took hold of the various wrecked trees to form an appendage comprised of wood to replace what the Titan destroyed.

Still alive, Lord Shaxx pushed himself back onto his feet and glared at the Geist from under his helmet. Sensing the barely held back hostility, the Grimm returned the Titan's glare in kind before rushing towards the veteran Guardian.

"I have not been tagged like that in centuries," the old Titan mused to himself as he stood unconcerned of the massive Grimm heading towards him at alarming speeds, "Hm, how intriguing."

Cracking his neck, Shaxx pounded his fist into the palm of his other hand. A loud clang as if metal banging against metal rang out in the clearing that they made as the Titan's form was shrouded in the unyielding flames of the sun.

Unlike other Sunbreakers, Shaxx had no need for their signature weapon, the Hammer of Sol. Neither did he have a use for firearms and the like. Even before he dedicated himself to the art of crafting swords and swordplay, the only weapons of mass destruction that he ever wielded were his two fists.

As much as it pained him to quote the current Hunter Vanguard, there was only one way to stop a Titan's punch.

The ground exploded from beneath his feet as he launched himself at the Geist's Petra Gigas form. In the fraction of a second, the Titan reached the Grimm and delivered a devastating fiery punch at its mass, dead center. A web-like network of cracks formed all over the Grimm's chosen body as geysers of fire burst free from the cracks. A moment later, the Petra Gigas exploded into millions of scorched fragments as Shaxx's Light purged the Geist from the possessed object.

You don't.

The Titan landed on his feet in a slight crouched as the true form of the Geist crashed not as gracefully some distance away from him. Straightening himself up, Lord Shaxx began to approach the downed Grimm at a leisurely pace as the Geist vainly attempted to drag its frail body away from him in a desperate hope to escape him.

"That will do you no good," Shaxx told the creature of Darkness, causing it to look up at him with its single eye. The last that the Geist saw was the bottom of the Titan's boot before it crushed the Grimm's head into dust, "Now back into the abyss from whence you came, creature."

00000

AN:

For those of you that thought I made Shaxx too overpowered in this chapter, I just recently discovered something interesting about Lord Shaxx. Not only is he monstrously strong but he is also really, _really_ fast. He made a bet with Cayde-6 to see if he could outrun the Hunter Vanguard's Golden Gun and Shaxx would only make a bet like that if he was confident enough to win. Going by that logic, not only did Shaxx know that he was fast enough to dodge bullets but he also knew that he was fast enough to _outrun_ bullets. That is insanely fast and I _still_ get complaints from people that say I'm making the characters from Destiny too overpowered compared to RWBYverse characters.

Unfortunately for him, bullets fired from a Golden Gun traveled much faster than the standard bullets that Guardians used so he still lost that bet.

Not a lot of Summer Rose but don't worry, the next chapters will focus more on her.


	9. Petals Scatter

AN:

I'm thinking of making a forum about the Remnant of a Rose series in general. Should I go through with it? Check out my bio for the poll to decide if I should make one here on .

Fellow fanfiction author, Dustiniz117 asked if he/she could write a tie-in story to Remnant of an Iron Rose. Don't be alarmed if Dustiniz117 posts a story like that because I already gave him/her my permission to do so. This also applies to the rest of you. If you want to post a spin-off or a tie-in about Remnant of an Iron Rose, please ask for my permission first.

Warning: extra cheesy and yet heartwarming fluff at the latter parts of this chapter. Prepare for the feelz.

00000

Chapter 9

Salem hatefully glared at the images that her Seers showed her like they had personally wronged her as her gathered followers studied the images in great detail. Considering that who was in those images was both a descendant of the silver-eyed warriors and a Guardian, she had a right to believe that this person had committed a slight against her.

It was not enough that outsiders possessing powers to rival the Maidens made their presence known but now, two of the Grimm Queen's most hated counterparts were on this planet.

From what Salem's Seers showed her of the battle between Summer Rose and the Vex entity known as Nihileon, the White Rose had achieved a power far beyond what Remnant had. She reached a level so high that Salem was deemed the least of her concerns as she focused her efforts to defeat the Grimm, ignoring her supposed nemesis in the process.

Then there was the other one who effortlessly laid waste to her armies before continuing on his journey like nothing of the sort happened.

"It appears that another bothersome piece has entered the board and this one doesn't appear to be dancing to Ozpin's tune," the well dressed man with a distinctive mustache remarked as he rubbed his chin in thought, "Despite possessing silver eyes, the man wields his gifts in such crude fashions."

"It clearly shows his most likely uncultured upbringing," Dr. Arthur Watts chuckled in a condescending manner, not knowing how wrong he truly was.

"Sacrilege!" Tyrian bellowed as he slammed his clenched fist on the table that Salem and her council gathered around, "This _thing_ is an affront to her most graciousness! We must kill him! Gouge his eyes out, cut his limbs off-"

The madman would have continued to rant about the various gruesome ways to kill the newly revealed silver-eyed warrior if it wasn't for the Grimm Queen raising a pale and deceptively dainty hand, wordlessly ordering her most devout worshipper to be silent.

Properly chastised, Tyrian lowered his head in obedience, allowing for the large and muscular man to say his piece.

Cinder Fall would have also used this opportunity to state her thoughts but only if she was actually there to be a part of that meeting for the recently dubbed Fall Maiden was still in Vale, attempting to salvage whatever she could of her failed schemes.

It was for the best. In spite of successfully attaining the Maiden's powers, Cinder's plans to bring about Kingdom of Vale's downfall fell apart completely and the Grimm Queen and her followers did not tolerate failure.

"We've dealt with their kind before," the man, Hazel Rainart stated in a completely emotionless tone as everyone thought back to how they 'dealt' with the silver-eyed warriors in the past.

Hazel was a large, muscular man with short brown hair, a beard and hazel eyes. He wore a two-tone olive green coat over a black 3/4 sleeve shirt, and a large belt. His pants were black and his boots were brown with white fronts. His hairy arms appeared to have some scars near the edges of his sleeves.

The doors to the council room were suddenly shoved open with a resounding bang, causing all of the occupants of the room except for Salem to snap their gaze towards the doorway.

"I assure you that none of you have ever dealt with anyone like Shin Malphur before," Dredgen Vena said as the Dark Hunter entered the room like she owned the place. The emmissary for the Shadows of Yor ignored the outraged glares sent her way as she approached the table. The glares increased in intensity when Vena had the audacity to grab a vacant seat and then moved its position to the head off the table.

"I also know how you 'dealt' with Summer Rose," Dredgen Vena sat down, directly facing the Grimm Queen unflinchingly, "And look how _that_ turned out."

"Forces even greater than the Huntsmen and Huntresses now on Remnant," she continued, propping an elbow on the table and supporting her chin on the flat of her palms, "An entire army of immortal warriors with powers that make the existence of the Four Maidens irrelevant, which Summer Rose is now a part of them."

"I daresay that it appears the situation wouldn't have been as convoluted as it is now if you people didn't 'deal' with Summer Rose," Vena giggled, clearly mocking the gathered people.

That wasn't all. Dredgen Vena wasn't entirely certain but she had some suspicions that it was Summer Rose's doing that the faunus terrorist group, the White Fang severed their alliance with Salem's faction.

According to the radical faunus, it was Cinder Fall who was the one that sold the White Fang stationed in Vale and had the leaders of that cell assassinated but the only evidence of the Maiden of Autumn's apparent betrayal was her sigil found at the scene of the crime.

To anyone else, this would be chalked up as a classic backstabbing tradition among criminals but the timings between Summer Rose's dramatic reveal, the Vex attack on Vale and the elimination of the Vale-stationed White fang members were too coincidental.

And there was no such thing as coincidence in their line of work.

Vena was quite familiar with Summer Rose's work for various reasons so she knew that the White Rose was a very capable assassin. She was not on the same level as Shiro-4 but she was still deadly in her own right. There was also another thing that set her apart from her fellow student and that was how she would manipulate the evidence after an assassination to make it look like it was the work of another.

After killing her target, most notably the high ranking Fallen ones, Summer Rose would leave pieces of evidence behind to make it seem like the target was killed by a rival baron or was betrayed by their top lieutenant or even a hit from another Fallen House.

The White Rose would then sit back and watch the show as the Fallen fought amongst themselves to either fill in the power vacuum left behind by her victims or take revenge on their slain leader on the wrong target. In essence, she manipulated the Eliksni from behind the scenes so that they would turn against each other and further widen the divide among their kind.

What Summer Rose did to the Fallen Houses hostile to the Last City of Earth was what Salem and her cohorts were attempting to do here on Remnant. A very scary similarity now that Vena thought about it. The White Rose would make a very dangerous villain only if she only discarded all of her remaining moral limitations.

But it was too bad that Salem and her lap dogs were too hung up on Summer Rose the Huntress, who would never stoop so low to resort to such underhanded and manipulative tactics. They still haven't realized that they were contending with Summer Rose the Guardian, who was trained by the most cunning and slippery Hunter in the Last City.

If there was one thing that the Hunter Vanguard taught Summer Rose, it was to cheat as much as you could get away with. Unfortunately for her enemies, Rose was very good at that.

" _Oh well,"_ Dredgen Vena internally shrugged, _"Let them find out the hard way."_

"Shin Malphur? I take it that you are familiar with this bearer of the silver eyes," Salem said, reining in her temper with a herculean amount of effort. When the day came that Dredgen Vena would be at the Grimm Queen's mercy, Salem was going to enjoy every moment of it.

"The oldest survivor of the Roseus clan? No, I don't know Malphur personally but I do know of his reputation," the Shadows of Yor member answered, "Quite well, you can say."

"Roseus?"

"The name that the people of Earth called the silver-eyed warriors like Shin Malphur and Summer Rose," Vena replied as she waved her hand in a dismissive manner, "He is quite the famous figure back on Earth and you would be hard pressed to find someone who haven't heard of him."

"For what does this Malphur owe to his popularity to?" Dr. Wattz scoffed in a derisive tone as his large mustached bristled, "Being born with a rare heritage?"

"For killing a god," Vena bluntly corrected, rendering her audience into shocked silence.

Not entirely true and yet not an inaccurate claim.

Dredgen Yor, the main figure of reverance to the Dark Hunter's group, was likened to that of a deity many times before and after his descent into the Darkness. He cut a rather impressive stature and the presence that both of his incarnations held always felt so overwhelming even compared to other Risen.

The creator of Thorn also wielded more power than any of his peers ever did and possessed such control over it that no other Guardian could replicate it to the same degree that he did. He performed the impossible practically everyday and if one were to meet the man in person, they wouldn't argue that Dredgen Yor could possibly be a deity.

And Shin Malphur was the one to have killed the one being that the Shadows of Yor idolized, Dredgen Yor.

The Gunslinger was also rumored to have killed a couple of Ahamkaras but it was never confirmed on whether or not that he took part in the Ahamkara hunts.

"Preposterous! My queen is the only true goddess there is," the scorpion faunus growled, his body tense as if he was about lunge at the Dark Hunter for saying otherwise, "For you to claim that this heretic killed a god other than my beloved queen is-"

"Believe me or not. I do not really care which," Dredgen Vena shrugged, interrupting the madman before he could go on another tangent about his precious 'goddess', "But it would be in your best interests to keep an open mind lest you wish to have a bullet lodged into what passes for a brain in those skulls of yours."

The three men, especially Dr. Watts for the pass on his intelligience were insulted by the Hunter's words and they would have decided to assault her then and there if it wasn't for one important fact. Dredgen Vena was skilled enough to have defeated their leader, Salem in battle. They knew their abilities well but not even they could hope to hold a candle to the Grimm Queen.

"He is not a foe that you can afford to underestimate. Even I'm not entirely certain that I could face him in battle and hope to walk away from it unscathed," she added with a slight shudder, thinking back to the few recordings of the Gunslinger's matches in the Crucible.

What Shin Malphur demonstrated against the army of Grimm was only just the tip of the iceberg. His full capabilities could only be speculated on and what was known about him was already frightening to begin with. In fact, there was a good chance that he could have been chosen to be the next Hunter Vanguard if Cayde-6 ever died and/or retired.

If these fools still wanted to heedlessly provoke Shin Malphur, then it was not any of her concern since Vena's orders were to specifically keep Salem and _only Salem_ alive. The Grimm Queen's lapdogs could go kill themselves via the Gunslinger's Golden Gun for all she cared.

"Then what is the point of you being here?" Dr. Watts challenged hotly, beyond irked at being treated with such disrespect, "If you can't even handle such obstacles yourself, then what use are you?"

Instead of rising to the bait, Dredgen Vena smirked from under her helmet and tilted her head at the doctor, "I'm so glad you asked."

Pursing her lips from within her helmet, she let out a sharp whistle that echoed across the still opened doorway. Answering her call, two doppelgangers manifested by her Shadows of the Hunt entered the room while carrying a large sarcophagus-like object with multiple green runes etched all over its surface. The two clones placed the sarcophagus down so that it was standing straight up before they dispersed into vapors.

"A proper demonstration should suffice," Vena gestured to the mysterious object as the front of the sarcophagus suddenly split open from the middle. The front of the sarcophagus swung open to reveal what was inside of it, earning several shocked statements from the male audience and an intrigued arching of the brow from Salem.

What was inside of the sarcophagus was a man dressed in withered rags. The man had reddish purple hair like the color of wine, matching mustache and beard, and prominent eyebrows. Watts abruptly stood up, knocking his chair down in his haste.

"Impossible…" he gaped in disbelief, recognizing the man within the sarcophagus, "He looks too young but he's the spitting image of him."

"I know, doctor," Salem concurred, not as off balance as Arthur Watts was at the moment, "And we were led to believe that he was killed not too long ago unless your sources happen to be misinformed or this is the demonstration that Dredgen Vena spoke about."

"Welcome back to the land of the living," Vena's mouth widened in a fiendish grin from behind her mask as the man began to stir awake, revealing blood red eyes, "Dr. Merlot."

00000

Autumn had come to the little island of Patch. The leaves were beginning to fall, making the trees of the forest an almost hypnotic sea of red as swathes of crimson blanketed the earth. At the edge of the forest was the cliffside that held a breathtaking view of the ocean waves. A figure garbed in the purest of whites took the sights in as a stone slab laid before their feet.

 _Summer Rose – "Thus kindly I scatter"_

This stone slab served as an altar for the Huntress known as Summer Rose. A body was never found for proper burial so this alter was made in the place of an actual grave to commemorate both the noblest of warriors and the most loving mother.

By the cliffside stood a Guardian by the name of Summer Rose as she lowered her head to stare at the altar of the Huntress.

"You know, I never thought I would visit my own grave," Summer mused as a small and melancholic smile formed on her face while her mind flashed back to memories of her first death, "Have to say that this isn't really a bad place to have it."

"Yeah, dad always said that you would have wanted to be buried here someday," the all too familiar voice of Ruby Rose, her daughter spoke up as boots crunched on the ground and the red garbed girl took her place beside her mother, "I guess he was right."

"I guess so too," the Guardian agreed as petals of their respective colors emanated from their cloaks and billowed in the wind, creating a swirl of red and white to appear around mother and daughter. The two stood in relative silence, not sure how to break the tension of the moment. After all, it was not everyday that someone got to visit their own grave with their recently rediscovered loved one.

In spite of them being glad that they were finally reunited after all these years, Summer was still gone for nearly a decade. It was no simple matter to disclose and move from so oftentimes, there were some periods where each sides were at a loss for words.

"It's…" Ruby trailed off as she racked her brain for anything to break this awkwardness between them. She spent too long missing her mother so she wasn't going to settle for a strained relationship with her after getting her back.

"I dreamed about you," it was Summer instead who broke the silence as she stared at the horizon with a fond smile, "At least, I think they were dreams those times."

"You did?" Ruby couldn't help the spark of hope that lit up in her chest from her mother's words. She thought for sure that the White Rose had completely forgotten about them before she inadvertently came back to Remnant but Summer's admittance changed that.

"Uh huh," the Guardian nodded in confirmation, "Although, I didn't really understand the full contents of my dreams and I would have a hard time remembering them when I wake up. I just know that I heard your voice talking to me and telling me things. I wanted to talk back to you so badly but I couldn't no matter how hard I tried. Even though you would spend hours talking to me sometimes and I didn't really understand what was going on, I didn't want them to end and I would wake up with tears in my eyes and a deep sense of longing."

"After meeting you and Yang face to face, after hearing your voices, I'm starting to recall some of them," she continued as her daughter leaned against her side and she unconsciously wrapped an arm around the shorter girl like it was second nature, "You would tell me how your day went, about your favorite food, your favorite video games and heh, even the day you first built Crescent Rose. I'm not sure how I got those visions but I'm glad did. They were pretty much my only respite while I was at my lowest point."

After the day Summer's best friend and partner, Diana Collete was expulsed from the City, she began to have the aforementioned dreams of her not yet known daughter's voice speaking to her whenever she decided to close her eyes for deep slumber. Those dreams came at such a frequency that she basically became addicted to sleep in the hopes of hearing that voice again. Next thing she knew it, what was supposed to be a simple nap became a self-induced coma that lasted for months until Cayde-6 and the rest of the Vanguard forcibly snapped her out of her sleep spells.

She didn't appreciate what her superiors did even though it was for her own benefit. She turned more aggressive and was downright hostile at times due to only being allowed eight hours of sleep. Eight hours never felt enough for her and Diana's recent expulsion was still fresh on her mind so she began to resent the Vanguard and her mentor for forcing that upon her.

That time was Summer's lowest point and she was ashamed that it ever happened. In fact, the Hunter would have continued to be that short tempered and disillusioned Guardian that she was if it wasn't for the most unlikely person showing her the errors of her ways.

The Warlock, Lux Sylphid was the only one who was able to get through Summer's thick head and that alone would cement their unspoken and yet unyielding friendship for the years to come in Fireteam Nero.

In spite of all their quarrels, Summer would always be grateful to Lux Sylphid for pulling her out of that dark place she put herself in. She would follow the one she thought as a grumpy yet well-meaning big sister till the end of time and even beyond that.

Muffled sniffling broke the White Rose out of her melancholic reminiscing and she looked down to see that Ruby had tears in her silver eyes and was choking back her sobs.

"You…you actually h-heard me th-hose times," the girl's tone was short and clipped, signs that she was on the verge of bawling her eyes out as she wrapped her mother in the tightest hug that she could make as if afraid that Summer would disappear from her life again if she let go, "You actually heard me…"

Ruby Rose didn't know the reasons for her mother's dreams either but she knew the contents of those dreams all too well.

Over the years, Ruby would frequently visit this place where Summer's altar laid and she would then talk to the grave as if it was actually her mother. It was a way to cope with her mother's apparent death, lessening the pain in her chest whenever she thought of Summer Rose so she better could remember the good times that they had together.

Her father, Taiyang Xiao Long would always tell Ruby that wherever her mom was, she was always watching over her, listening. It was a belief that was only furthered reinforced after hearing Summer's confession.

Taiyang Xiao Long was right. Ruby's mother _was_ listening to her even if the Guardian didn't realize that she was at the time. Through some twist of fate, Summer Rose retained a connection with Ruby that was capable of transcending solar systems.

The red hooded girl felt elation when the White Rose reciprocated the embrace with equal strength. Ruby pressed her face into the familiarly warm bosom of her mother as Summer gently stroke her daughter's hair. The Rose duo finally let loose the pain and frustration that they endured for these past years as they cried in each other's arms. Yet, their tears were not that of grief but of joy because after so long, they were able to fill the hole that Summer's death had caused for both sides.

Ruby didn't really believe in any particular god or religion but if she did have to choose one to thank for bringing her mother back to her, it would be the Traveler, the moon-sized being responsible for resurrecting Summer Rose from the dead.

Unbeknownst to mother and daughter, their silver eyes were flashing in unison as if resonating with one another. It was quite a curious sight to behold if anyone was there to witness it.


	10. Ambush Pt 1

AN:

Which was your favorite Summer/Ruby scene? Was it the one in the previous chapter, was it the one with the cookies or was it when Summer sang "All Our Days" to Ruby?

Me? My favorite was the one where Ruby accidently killed Summer and broke down in hysterics. Ah, good times.

Anyway, back to business. I'm sure some people must have seen the poll by now. I just want to let you know that it's going to be there until sometime next month so be sure to vote before then because that decides on whether or not I will make a forum for this story.

One last thing, RabidArmenian asked if he/she could make a tie-in to Remnant of an Iron Rose so expect for him to post it one day.

00000

Chapter 10

It was common knowledge that Cayde-6 hated his position as the Hunter Vanguard with a passion so it was a wonder why the Exo Hunter was chosen to be the ambassador for Remnant in spite of there being over several people more suitable than him.

Why couldn't it have been Ikora Rey or Commander Zavala? Even representatives from the major factions like New Monarchy and Dead orbit would have been sufficed so why was it Cayde who was placed into such a crucial position to strengthen ties with the people of Remnant?

There were very good reasons for that decision.

Any candidate chosen from the major factions couldn't be trusted completely. While all of them were be loyal to the City, they would always hold their respective factions as a higher priority. It was not entirely certain if the factions would not use the diplomatic ties with Remnant to further their own agendas.

Future War Cult would utilize the Huntsmen and Huntresses especially the ones from Atlas to increase their military might. Dead Orbit would use the existence of Remnant as an example and traverse the galaxy for similar worlds like it while actually formalizing a legitimate excuse for them to flee the Sol System. New Monarchy would garner the sympathies of the oppressed faunus people in order to strengthen their own standing in the Consensus while furthering their goal to abolish the Consensus system and establish a ruling monarch.

On the other hand, the members of the Vanguard held no interest on what the factions do in their spare time as long as it didn't aversely affect the City and they also held a considerable amount of sway over the Consensus. However, Ikora Rey was the founder and leader of the Hidden, the Last City's own spy network. It would not sound like Earth desired a diplomatic union with Remnant if they chose a known spymaster as the ambassador. The same applied to the Titan Vanguard who commanded a majority of the City's military forces as their commander.

The Speaker was also more suitable representative than Cayde-6 but choosing him was out of the question since the Speaker was the most important figure in the City, second only to the Traveler itself so the idea was immediately turned down before anyone could voice it.

That left only Cayde-6 as the most viable candidate for ambassador. A fact that everyone, including the Hunter Vanguard himself had no choice but to begrudgingly accept.

It also helped that the Exo Hunter had close ties with Guardian Summer Rose, who was born on Remnant. It turned out that she had a respectable reputation before she died and became a Guardian so her word carried a good deal of weight to the people on top.

Well, her word actually meant a lot to the headmasters of the various combat schools actually but in Cayde's opinion, they were the only ones that he deemed more important. The Councils of Remnant were kind of dicks and that made him wonder why Remnant hadn't imploded on itself yet.

Then again, the planet _was_ on the brink of another civil war before the Vex invasion began. Even now, there was an almost palpable tension between the citizens of Remnant and the presence of the Guardians did very little to ease it.

Even though Cinder Fall's faction and the White Fang were no longer allied with one another, they were still a separate threat to the peace of Remnant. The Vanguard didn't know where Cinder Fall's faction was based so they couldn't immediately send a team of Guardians to eliminate them. The White Fang, on the other hand, was something that could be dealt with whether through pacifistic means or a violent end that was up to them.

The law enforcement of Remnant had no clue where the leader of White Fang, Sierra Khan was but the Hunter Vanguard figured that he could eventually deduce the location once he made it to the island with the largest faunus population.

Menagerie.

It was really no secret that the presence of the White Fang could be found on Menagerie. Although, it was a common misconception that the White Fang was the _only_ ruling body on the island. In fact, it was someone else that was no longer affiliated with formerly peaceful organization.

Cayde-6 didn't actually know who it was but that was why he was here on Menagerie to find out for himself.

The Hunter Vanguard's boots sunk slightly into sandy grains of the beach after having been dropped off by his jumpship. As the ship flew off, he dusted himself off to look more presentable before trekking into the village proper.

The arrival of the spaceship gathered quite a crowd of curious faunus onlookers before their stares turned wary as they caught sight of the mechanical Guardian making his way to them in a confident stride.

Noticing their gazes upon him, Cayde placed his hands on the sides of his hips and puffed his chest out to put better emphasis on its well defined frame as he proudly called out to the inhabitants of Menagerie.

"Hey there,take me to your leader," the Hunter Vanguard proclaimed in a loud voice as he internally guffawed at the irony of his words.

Let it be known that even though Cayde-6 did his job well, he still found the opportunity to make as much jokes as he can while he did so.

He didn't really had to go to Menagerie himself but it was the perfect excuse to leave the stuffy office space back in Beacon Academy especially after he accidently signed his approval without consulting his colleagues in the Vanguard for Shaxx to start his own curriculum of combat classes here on Remnant.

In hindsight, the Hunter Vanguard should actually _read_ what he was signing before stamping his signature on it. It was also not too long ago that he warned that ice cream girl to not skip reading the fine print of her contract. He really should have listened to his own advice.

The headmasters of the combat schools saw no problems with the Lord's proposal and thought it would be a great learning experience for their students to be mentored by a veteran Guardian so they also allowed it, consigning the young warriors of Remnant to their doom under one of the most powerful Titans in the City.

May the Traveler have mercy on their souls for Shaxx will spare them none.

00000

Summer Rose and her daughter, Ruby embraced each other for an undiscernible amount of time before they pulled away from one another, their tears having dried up by now.

"Sorry," Ruby sheepishly looked at the rather noticeable tearstain on her mother's chest where she pressed her face against.

"It's okay," Summer waved it off as she wiped her face with a handkerchief that she materialized from her inventory before offering the small cloth to the scythe-wielder.

The leader of Team RWBY gratefully took the offered handkerchief and she used it to loudly blow her nose on it before offering the cloth back to its owner. The White Rose received the handkerchief with a carefully concealed wince as it was now dripping wet with a liquid other than tears. Before Ruby could take note of her discomfort, she placed the cloth back into her inventory.

"Well, we should hurry back to your house. I'm sure everyone else is waiting for us," Summer said as she gestured to the general direction of Patch.

"Do we have to?" Ruby pouted, not wanting to return just yet. It was not because she wanted to spend more quality time with her mother but it was because it was a little uncomfortable to be in the same vicinity as Summer's new teammates from Fireteam Nero.

Well, one teammate in particular.

0000

 _Earlier_

"Hi, my name's Ruby Rose and I'm gonna be the greatest Huntress in the world!" the red garbed girl greeted the other members of Fireteam Nero as she gave them her biggest smile. The pure optimism that she exuded was almost palpable as sparkles seemed to emanate from the innocent expression on her youthful face.

Prometheus-23 abruptly backpedaled several steps as he flailed his arms around as if to ward off a physical threat. His internal processors went into overdrive as his anti-puppy dog eyes subroutine was initiated. The Titan idly pondered why he had that subroutine in the first place but he really shouldn't complain for it was definitely being put to good use at the moment.

The same can't be said about the Warlock of Fireteam Nero.

Lux Sylphid appeared to have been left unaffected by the young girl's cuteness as she kept her expression schooled. The only proof that spoke otherwise was how her cheeks flushed a light shade of pink against her silvery skin. Face still maintaining its calm countenance in spite of the blush, the Awoken removed the cigarette that she was smoking from her lips, which she then snuffed out its lit end of the cigarette filter before tossing it to the side.

Eyes closed, Lux inhaled deeply and let her breath out in a long exhale. Without warning, the Warlock vanished from sight and the next thing that Ruby Rose knew was that her face was forcefully pressed against something soft yet firm and that she was having difficulty breathing.

"So _cuuuutttee_!" Lux shrieked in delight as she tightly hugged the young girl to her bosom.

"No, not again!" Ruby cried out in horror as she desperately struggled to escape the Warlock's grasp but the Awoken grip was stronger than a King Taijutu.

Ruby's mind was assaulted by flashbacks of all the times her older sister, Yang Xiao Long nearly suffocated her by excessively pressing the young Rose's face against her breasts. Lux Sylphid wasn't as big as Yang (and she was starting to believe that no one would ever have boobs bigger than Yang's) but they were still hefty enough to make breathing an exercise in futility.

"Hey! Only _I'm_ allowed to do that to my sister!" Yang bellowed as she moved to extricate her little sister from the Awoken.

" _Kill me now,"_ Ruby prayed to whatever was listening as the blonde brawler and the Warlock played an impromptu tug-o-war with her body, _"End my suffering."_

00000

"That definitely could have gone better," the Hunter assured her as she rolled her eyes at the memory of the proper introduction between Ruby and Fireteam Nero.

It was a good thing that she and Prometheus were able to pry Yang and Lux away from the young Rose before they actually needed to resuscitate her. The experience still left Ruby with a justifiable fear of the Warlock so she was reluctant to see Lux again.

Besides, if there was anyone who was going to hug and smother Ruby with kisses, it was going to be Summer Rose herself.

"C'mon, I'll make sure Lux doesn't try to suffocate you again," the White Rose told her in assurance, alleviating the younger girl's fears somewhat before whispering to her Ghost in private, "Now, Drei, which way is their house again?"

Summer would have asked her daughter but she didn't want to bring down the mood by revealing that she still didn't remember where their house was. Her amnesia was still a touchy subject to broach upon and she could see the hurt in her daughter's eyes whenever she failed to recall a precious memory from her past life.

Somehow, interacting with Yang and Ruby had instilled in the Hunter the one thing that many had attempted to the same over the course of her Guardian career: tact. It was a fact that the Ghost, Drei would forever be thankful to the girls for. Maybe being a mother would make his Guardian more responsible.

" _The house is in that-"_ Drei was about to say to her but he was suddenly interrupted by something else.

" _ **Someone approaches."**_

Summer's body instinctively tensed up in preparation for battle as her head shot towards the direction where the other voice directed her to. Now wasn't the time to question the second voice in her head for it was telling the truth as a sharp whistling reverberated across the tree line. The Hunter quickly flung herself to the side as a bullet grazed against her rapidly forming helmet. If she had been a split second slower, her brains would have been splattered all over the ground whether she was wearing a helmet or not.

"Mom, what's happening?" Ruby asked as she looked around their surroundings for their unseen assailant with worry in her silver eyes, "Who's attacking us? Is it the Vex? Did we miss some?"

"Ruby, I need you to run to your house as fast as you can. Do _not_ stop for anything," Summer told the young leader of Team RWBY as she drew Thorn from its holster and aimed it between the trees where the other voice told her the threat was. Ruby didn't know what was going on exactly but she somehow knew that it wasn't the Vex her mother was warning her about.

"But I can fight too!" the red reaper protested as she unslung Crescent Rose from her back and shifted it into its scythe configuration, "I'm not letting you fight on your own!"

Not anymore. Not when she can finally hold her own ground now.

Several more sharp whistling sounds punctuated through the air and the Hunter exchanged Thorn for her knives to deflect the incoming projectiles only for their blades to instantly shatter upon impact, leaving her with empty hilts in her hands. Even though she was able to divert the bullets, her shields were heavily peppered by shrapnel from her broken knives as she tossed away the empty hilts.

Those were not her only knives since she had plenty of the same knives to spare but they were designed to be very durable. For them to be broken so easily meant that whoever was shooting at her wielded a top tier weapon, which could effortlessly pierce the low leveled armor that she gave to Team RWBY, shields, Aura and all.

Fortunately, Ruby wasn't the target of the elusive sniper. A skilled shooter like their assailant would have known that the younger girl was a more vulnerable target than the Guardian with how she failed to react to the initial shot in time. They could have taken her out first but instead, they chose to go for the greater threat that was Summer Rose.

This meant that whoever the shooter was, they only had eyes for the White Rose while the younger Rose was nothing more than an afterthought, which the Hunter intended to keep it that way to ensure that the sniper didn't see Ruby as a potential threat to remove, Ruby had to leave _now_.

" _Now_ , Ruby," the Guardian replied with what the first year student remembered to be Summer's Mom VoiceTM. Her mother never had the tendency to get mad at her daughters but whenever she used the Mom VoiceTM, there was no room for question. You did whatever she told you to and there would be no complaints at all.

Ruby had not heard the Mom VoiceTM in years but she immediately knew that arguing would do no good so she begrudgingly beat a hasty retreat. But not before sending a brief message to her teammates in Team RWBY to rendezvous later.

Another bullet came slicing through the air as the young leader of Team RWBY used her semblance to sprint out of sight. Summer drew Bolt-caster and swung it in a downward swing, cutting the speeding bullet straight down the middle. Both halves of the bullet impacted the two trees behind her as she dashed forward in the direction of where the bullets originated from.

The Guardian twirled her sword with deft skills, creating a veritable barrier to deflect the rounds sent fired at her form. Noises of the altercations attracted the creatures of Grimm in droves but they were deemed inconsequential as she cut them down with a single round from Thorn, Mark of the Devourer finishing off any Grimm that didn't already die from the first shot.

Whoever was shooting at Summer Rose was highly professional and yet was very determined to get to her in spite of how ineffective their bullets were to her skills. Either that or they wanted for the White Rose to head towards them. Even though she would be playing into the enemy's hand, she needed to know the identity of her attacker and possibly bring them in for interrogation.

It was fortuitous that the shooter didn't aim for Ruby though. Because if they did, Summer will not bother to arrest them. No, she would have made what she did to Roman Torchwick look like a spa treatment if they attempted to kill her precious daughter before her very eyes.

 _ **Hehehehe…**_

The other voice deeply chuckled in dark amusement as it sensed the Hunter's morbid and graphic thoughts. It even went as far to further reinforce those very same thoughts, making them even more vivid and tempting than before. For once, Summer didn't find it in herself to object to those mental images.

Yes, the other voice was going to take great pleasure of watching such a paragon of virtue fall from grace.

00000

Ruby Rose dashed past the trees at blinding before she skidded to a halt at a large clearing that she quickly recognized. She had been through this same clearing so many times from whenever she visited her mother's grave and she usually had to lead the Grimm to this location so they would be out in the open and reduce the chance of being blindsided.

Her older sister, Yang was also aware of this place, which was why Ruby told her to bring the rest of Team RWBY here to meet up with her. Not long after entering the clearing, the red reaper could see the forms of her teammates in the distance, running up to meet her.

"Ruby, what's happening?" Yang, being the first to reach her, inquired as she and the rest of Team RWBY stopped in front of their leader.

"It's mom! Someone's after her!" the red garbed girl cried as she grabbed her older sister's arm and pulled on the limb in a frantic manner, "C'mon, we have to go and help her!"

"Wait, we shouldn't be too hasty," Weiss Schnee spoke up as the sisters were about to go running off.

"Why not? It's our _mom_!" the blonde brawler growled in irritation as the Schnee heiress refused to let them leave just yet.

"Whoever is attacking your mother would have to be on the same level as a Huntsman or a Guardian," Weiss interjected as she placed a hand on each of the sisters' shoulder, "We're still students so we won't be much help to her if we _were_ there. We'll only be in the way."

"She's right," Blake Belladonna agreed as she stood beside the white haired girl, "We're not ready."

"And we'll never be ready!" Yang roared as her eyes flared red and her long flowing blonde locks emitted fire, "If we always play things safe, we won't be ready when it _isn't_! We either do it and deal with what happens after or we don't and continue feeling useless for the rest of our lives!"

The rest of Team RWBY was taken aback by their resident spitfire. Blake especially was more surprised than the rest for the former White Fang member said something similar during the start of the second semester, which motivated the team into action in the first place. That it came out of her partner's mouth didn't make it any less true. It simply reaffirmed what they already knew.

The sound of slow clapping from behind them alerted the all-girl team and they spun around to find that they were no longer the only ones in the clearing. Not even Blake, who possessed superior senses as a faunus, was able to detect that something was amiss until the new presence decided to reveal itself.

"Couldn't say it better myself," a new voice rang out in the clearing, causing the members of Team RWBY to tense up, "Nothing like pitting yourself against new adversaries to improve your capabilities. I say it builds character that way."

A man stood a dozen meters away from them and he was cladded in the same armor as a Guardian of the Hunter class. The light grey poncho that he wore covered his upper torso but they could see two handguns hanging by his waist in their holsters. For some reason one of the guns appeared to be smaller than the other gun, the first being more like a sidearm while the other could be designated as a hand cannon due to its relative size.

The sudden appearance of what seemed to be another Guardian would have been a relieving sight to see but something was off about him. The cat faunus didn't want to reinforce stereotypes of faunus but the atmosphere around the man was making her hackles rise and her teammates knew her well enough to notice her discomfort.

Whoever this man was, his presence felt more unnatural than the Guardians that their team had met so far. And this uncomfortable sensation was only reinforced when the man drew his sidearm at blinding speed and aimed the weapon at the first year team.

"Why don't we give it a try?" the man said as Team RWBY deployed their weapons. Faster than they could react, the man crossed the distance between them and placed the muzzle of his sidearm against the side of Ruby's head, "So show me what you got."

A gunshot rang out across the clearing, startling the nearby birds from their perch.


	11. Ambush Pt 2

AN:

Who else was pissed off by the cliffhanger in the previous chapter? Who else wants me to stop with the cliffhangers?

Too bad. I'm having so much fun from you making you guys wait but I did release this chapter early to make it up to you guys.

00000

Chapter 11

The world seemed to have slowed down to a crawl for Ruby Rose as she pushed her semblance into overdrive. Feeling as if she was wading through waist-deep mud, she spun herself out of the sidearm's path and swung Crescent Rose at the man who tried to hold her at gunpoint with a squeeze of the trigger to augment her strike.

The retort of her sniper/scythe hybrid rang out in the clearing, startling nearby birds from their perch while the rest of Team RWBY were in the midst of turning to face the man.

Ruby hoped to take the man off guard with her counterattack but it appeared that he still saw it coming since he was able to duck under the swipe, dodging the curved blade by a hairsbreadth. Before she could pull her weapon back for another attack, the man swept her legs out from under with a sweeping kick. Twisting back into standing position, he smashed the muzzle of his sidearm into the airborne Ruby's midsection, sending the young leader crashing into her partner Weiss Schnee. The Schnee heiress was knocked off her feet by the red hooded girl's impromptu flight and they fell to the ground, tumbling over each other in a tangled heap of limbs.

Yang Xiao Long was the first to reach the man who she then assaulted with a fierce barrage of punches and kicks. But they were to no effect as he skillfully evaded or redirected the blows. He twisted past a right hook and curled his arm around the extended limb, effectively trapping it in an arm lock as he twirled his handgun around so now he was holding it by the barrel. Before the blonde brawler could attempt to pull her restrained arm free, the man brought the gun down and cracked the butt of the grip against her collarbone, shoulder and cheekbone, dazing her momentarily.

Team RWBY sure did pick a bad time to not wear the armor that Summer Rose gave to them, which Yang would be totally regretting to do right about now if her head wasn't busy spinning.

Sweeping her legs out with a leg swipe, the man whirled her around and slammed her into the ground, creating a crater underneath his feet. He straightened himself up and gave a light kick to launch the brawler out of the crater while inadvertently hitting her breasts. The intense pain to her boobs snapped Yang out of her haze and her hair erupted into flames with a vengeance as she righted herself in midair.

Blake Belladonna leapt over the brawler's midair form and threw her Gambol Shroud in its chain scythe form at her partner, who caught it with no problem. The 'chain' stretched a far amount before it went taut, halting Yang's flight. The elasticity of the 'chain' reaching its limit, the blonde girl was launched back at the man with explosive force and speed.

Unperturbed, the man tossed a round and flat device at the space between him and the human missile that was Yang Xiao Long. As the blonde girl neared the trip-mine grenade and set it off, he flipped the sidearm so now he would be holding it by the grip again. The ensuing explosion wasn't enough to cancel out her forward momentum completely but she still flew uncontrollably in an upward arc over the man where she then crashed into a couple of trees, getting tangled in their branches.

He pulled the slide of the gun back to cock it, an act that he had yet to do since this one-sided battle started, and fired a three shot burst at the cat faunus dashing towards him. Blake swung Gambol Shroud to deflect the projectiles and almost lost her grip on her weapon from surprise that the bullets were of unexpectedly higher caliber than a gun that size should fire.

Gritting her teeth, Blake used the application of her semblance to evade the barrage, her shadow clones taking the shots in her stead. Eventually, the man's gun clicked empty and the former White Fang member took advantage of that opportunity to swing Gambol Shroud in an upward slash, which the man quickly stepped back to avoid. She then chased after him with a series of slashes, which he either weaved around or used his gun to parry the attacks. Blake crossed her blades to shield herself from the forward kick that he delivered in retaliation. In spite of successfully blocking the kick, she was still pushed back a couple of feet as her heels dug into the earth to halt herself.

In an act that took her completely by surprise, their assailant hurled the depleted gun at Blake and it bashed against her forehead, making her see stars and stopping her assault. The firearm bounced off of the stunned girl's skull and landed back into the man's hand. The empty magazine slid out of the sidearm and he slammed in a fresh one. Before she could recover, he then proceeded to fire his gun at her thighs, chest and shoulders.

Blake's body shook with each shot that hit her as her Aura flared to protect her from harm. Her Aura may be preventing her from receiving any major injuries but she was still sent reeling from the rounds impacting on her form. The shot that sent her sprawling was the high caliber round that slammed into her forehead as her back crashed hard into the dirt.

The battle cries of Ruby and Weiss alerted the man as he turned to see them sprinting towards him at high speeds. The red reaper assailed him from the side with wide sweeping strikes from her oversized scythe as the white fencer moved in to dispatch rapid fire thrusts and slices to cover for the openings that the younger girl left in her guard, leaving very little chances for the man to exploit them.

It spoke of great familiarity with one another that their fighting styles blended so well together to cover each other's individual weakness. Their exemplary teamwork was also able to push the man back and they were even scoring some blows. Even though they were just glancing blows at best, it was a small victory on their part since they had yet to even land a single blow on him until now.

But it still wasn't enough.

The man bended his torso to the side so Myrtenaster would stab the air over his shoulder instead of the shoulder itself. He gripped the Schnee heiress' wrist with his free hand before she could pull her weapon back and twisted himself and her in such a way that it was her blade that parried Crescent Rose. He slammed the muzzle of his sidearm into Weiss' temple and drove a knee into her solar plexus to prevent her from struggling as his other hand maneuvered her arm to block and slice at the younger girl.

Ruby was forced to pulled her swings lest she would hurt her partner by accident while trying to get to the man so her overall combat ability dwindled. Their assailant took full advantage of this as he punctuated each thrust of Myrtenaster with a shot from his sidearm, depleting her Aura with a combination of melee and gunfire. The red reaper was quickly losing ground as she desperately defended herself from the man's onslaught.

Seeing her partner in danger, Weiss regained enough of her senses to materialize a glyph underneath her and the man's feet. The both of them were thrown a dozen feet into the air as the man was about to deliver the coup de grace on the young leader of Team RWBY. As they were airborne, the Schnee heiress summoned another glyph between her and the man, which forcefully propelled him away from her.

Weiss called out a glyph to serve as a springboard as she kicked off of it and leapt towards their foe. The man righted himself and to her immense shock, stopped his flight by somehow standing on _the air itself_ as if there was an invisible platform for him to stand on. He raised his sidearm and started firing at the heiress, forcing her to disengage her attack lest she be perforated by bullets.

Still standing in the air, the man simply watched her drop back to the ground where she was joined by the rest of her teammates who were only beginning to recuperate. The girls were panting heavily and it took all that they had to lift their weapons and remain standing. Team RWBY was at their last legs and they knew it was hopeless to win through a battle of attrition in their current conditions.

While the man didn't appear to be the least bit winded or concerned that his enemies were taking a moment to catch their breaths.

"Who are you!?" Ruby yelled at the man after recovering a bit while he reloaded his gun, "Why are you attacking us!?"

"Attacking you?" the man echoed in mocked confusion as he looked down on them from where he was perched in the air, "I seem to recall that you were the one who attacked me first."

"Bullshit!" Yang angrily replied as she pointed an accusing finger at him, "You pointed _a gun_ at my sister's head!"

"Do not play the victim here," Weiss added as she leveled a stern glare at him, "You know what you did. There is no use in pretending otherwise."

"I know I pointed a gun that wasn't _cocked_ at red hood's head," he retorted, shaking said gun for emphasis, "A gun's not that much use if you don't cock it first. It would have done as much damage as hair lice if I pulled the trigger that time."

"He's right," Blake said in realization, amber eyes widening, "He didn't cock the gun until we attacked him."

There were several things that one must know when using a firearm. The first was to always keep the safety on when the gun wasn't in use. The second was to keep it pointed away from your body when said safety was off. The third was to cock the gun before firing otherwise nothing would happen.

The cat faunus knew that the man didn't cock the gun before revealing himself. Even though she didn't hear him approach them, she was certain that she would have at least hear the distinct sound of a semi-automatic pistol being cocked. There was no way he could have masked it, not when he was standing close enough for her cat ears to pick it up.

And if he _had_ cocked the gun beforehand, he wouldn't have needed to do so again when Blake charged at him earlier.

"See, she gets it," the man gestured to the black haired member of Team RWBY, "Good to know that someone could notice _that_ important detail."

"But that still doesn't excuse everything else you have done here," the Ice Queen responded in a frigid tone to match her appointed title, "Maybe if you have not fought as hard earlier, your claims for self-defense would bear more weight."

"You didn't exactly pull your punches when you _did_ cock your gun there," the former White Fang member backed up the Schnee heiress before biting back a wince. His bullets weren't really strong enough to pierce her Aura but she was definitely going to bruise from all of those gunshots hitting her.

It may have been said already but Team RWBY really picked an inopportune time to forgo their Guardian-made armor. They wouldn't have taken this much damage if they _were_ wearing those specially made apparel instead of their usual clothes. A fact that they were really going to regret if they survived this ordeal.

"Missy, I haven't even _begun_ to fight hard," the man chuckled, sending an ominous feeling to wash over most of the members of Team RWBY. If earlier was his way of going easy on them, they didn't want to find out what he was like fighting seriously. Another reason to not rush head long at an opponent like this.

Team RWBY was by no means bragging when they said that they were one of the best teams in their year, possibly even in the entire school but they were severely outmatched by this lone fighter dressed in Hunter gear. He had singlehandedly taken apart what made them strong and toyed around with them like a cat playing around with its prey (a comparison that Blake would have taken offense from if not for the given situation).

This man was just so far above them that the most likely reason this farce of a battle lasted this long was because he saw no reason to end it by now. That made their predicament even more hopeless than before.

It was too bad that one of them didn't share the same sentiments.

"I don't give a damn about your excuses. You threatened my sister!" Yang growled before she threw her arms back, Ember Celica discharging two rounds to launched herself higher, "You're dead meat!"

"Yang, wait!" Ruby called out to her sister in desperation but it was already in vain for the little yellow dragon was already halfway from reaching the man in the air with her fist reared back.

"Oh yeah, I forgot to answer your other question," he called out as he holstered his sidearm, uncaring of the fiery Huntress in training heading towards him.

He leaned forward and began falling to the earth as Yang approached him. Using whatever technique that allowed him to stand on the air itself, he kicked off and flung himself to meet the yellow haired girl of Team RWBY. Right as they were about to collide with each other, the man swiveled his body at the last second, causing Yang's punch to sail past him completely.

Before the blonde brawler could redirect herself to attack again, the man snatched her by the back of her jacket. Pulling her closer to him, he wrapped one arm around her neck and began to _squeeze_.

"Yang!" Ruby cried out in alarm as she watched in horror of her older sister being choked. She raised Crescent Rose and looked through the scope to snipe the man but he had angled himself so that Yang was between him and her scope. She couldn't take the shot in fear of hitting her sister instead.

The blonde brawler desperately clawed at the offending limb blocking her airway but the man's hold remained solid. Her eyes rolled to the back of her head and she gave one last ineffectual gasp before she fell limp, her flames finally snuffed out.

Thankfully, the man chose to release the chokehold so Yang was only rendered unconscious instead of being asphyxiated to death. But to the Huntresses in training back on the ground, it looked as if the man had just murdered their teammate and friend.

The man adjusted the catatonic girl in his arms so he held her in a bridal carry. He carefully laid her down on the ground and stepped away from her body to face the remaining members of Team RWBY, who seething in rage at what he did to their teammate. Once he was far enough from the unconscious girl, the three girls each unleashed a barrage at him.

Weiss launched a flurry of energy bolts through a combination of her glyphs and Dust. Blake swung her blades multiple times, unleashing sonic wave after sonic wave in quick succession. Ruby fired a salvo of high caliber bullets from her sniper rifle.

The man took their onslaught in stride as he stomped his boot twice on the ground. A wall of flames burst free from the earth in front of him, shielding him from their attacks and obscuring his form from their sight. Four loud bangs resounded in the clearing.

"Ah!" Ruby cried out in astonishment and slight pain as Crescent Rose was abruptly knocked out of her hand. Two similar cries from Weiss and Blake informed the young leader that they too suffered the same fate as they found their hands to be bereft of a weapon. From far away, the tips of their weapons sunk into the earth, their handles pointing at their direction as if to entice the Huntresses in training to pick them up once more.

It was unfortunate that they wouldn't reach their weapon in time if they did decide to make a run for them. As had been shown already, their assailant would either quickly catch up to them or shoot them down from afar.

The wall of flames dispersed to reveal the man aiming a black and bronze gun by his hip that was much bigger than the first one he used. It was the second gun in his gun holster, the one that could be classified as a hand cannon. Judging from his position, he had shot all of their weapon out of their hands from firing his gun from the hip, which shouldn't have been possibly since firing from hip was too impractical and only worked in movies.

Apparently, no one bothered to tell this man that fact due to him having done so with great efficiency.

"Shin Malphur," the man introduced himself as he spun his signature weapon, the Last Word and holstered it, "Pleased to beat you."

00000

AN:

Before you go on about Air-walking not being possible, Hunters used their Light to create a temporary platform for them to jump off of, which is why they can double or triple jump. The act of Air-walking seemed like the natural progression of double to triple jump for a Hunter with too much time on their hands.

Also, I can't take credit for coming up with this technique since fellow fanfic author, metaldragon868 thought of it first in his story, Vanguard (which I highly recommend by the way). I just asked permission if I can use it in my story as well and he said yes.


	12. Ambush Pt 3

AN:

Is anyone interested in being a beta reader for RabidArmenian? He/she recently released a tie-in story to Remnant of a Rose and he/she really needs someone to proofread it for him since it's actually a decent story despite the bad grammar. I would do it myself but I already have my hands full writing this story as it is so it can't be me.

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Chapter 12

Team RWBY performed better than Shin Malphur expected. Sure, he was holding back a great deal but the girls did remarkably well for students not yet qualified to be certified Huntresses at least. In spite of what they may believe, they were only partly correct that the reason the first year students lasted this long against the Gunslinger was because he was playing around with them. The other reason was because of their own efforts, teamwork and coordination even the face of a clearly superior foe.

Like what Lord Shaxx once said to the slayer of Dredgen Yor, a person's true character would be revealed on the battlefield where their life would be at constant peril so he resorted to simulating a life or death situation for Team RWBY by seemingly coming to kill them.

He obviously wasn't going to kill them for real. Maybe just scare them a bit. And the results of his little test spoke for themselves.

Shin found himself a smidgeon bit impressed. Only a smidgeon though since Team RWBY didn't seem to truly comprehend that they were in way over their heads. They may have understood that Malphur wasn't someone they could take on recklessly but they still continued to attack him regardless.

A majority of the first year team were composed of combatants that specialized in hit and run tactics. They could inflict a heap of punishment and could run circles around hostiles but once an enemy got a solid hit on them, they were going to feel it _bad_. The red girl and the black cat girl were essentially the Hunters of their group with their agility while whitey was basically a Warlock with how she would attempt to shift the battlefield through the usage of those glyphs and Dust.

Even though the blonde member of Team RWBY could take as much damage as she could dish out, she was too much of a hothead and quickly allowed her anger to get the best of her. Getting mad may increase her strength by leaps and bounds but she left tons of openings in her guard that weren't there before she lost control of her tempers. She was also quick to get frustrated whenever the battle didn't shift to her favor and would subsequently become enraged by that fact.

In Shin Malphur's eyes, she was like a child throwing a tantrum over not getting what she wanted as she punched at him with reckless abandon. The Gunslinger was _not_ going to indulge her temper tantrum nor will he tolerate them. It was high time that the girl learned that she won't always get her way and the world would not accommodate a spoiled brat.

The black haired girl didn't suffer the same problem but her weakness was just as debilitating.

She was too indecisive, always second guessing her actions that she ended up acting too rashly. If it wasn't for her shadestep-like semblance, he would have swiftly taken her down by now. Instead, she would leave a clone in her place to take the hit for her.

The semblance was supposed to be the physical manifestation of a person's character so it said a lot about the cat faunus with a semblance that helped her greatly in running away.

Whitey fought with a fire unlike her snowflake-like complexion would suggest. She carried herself with poise and dignity like the aristocrats of old and yet while she attempted to skewer him with her rapier, it felt like she held a great burden upon her shoulders.

She had doubts. Of what exactly, Shin wasn't certain but he knew that she had many. The air of confidence that she tried to exude was merely a façade that was quick to melt away from the heat of conflict.

Surprisingly enough, it was the leader of Team RWBY, his fellow Roseus member, who was the most stable among the four girls. She didn't let anger blind her, she was resolute in her actions and she held little to no burdens that was fruitless in weighing her down.

Although, Ruby Rose always hesitated whenever her blade strayed too close to hitting something vital so she would divert the swing to be a debilitating strike instead of a fatal one. Her teammates also possessed this same weakness but it was just more noticeable with her. Not surprising after hearing how she first reunited with Summer Rose.

Their lacking the drive to kill wasn't necessarily a bad thing but there were many enemies out there that you couldn't afford to be merciful to for they were too gar gone into the darkness of their souls. It was either kill or be killed against those who would humanity's existence.

However, Shin wasn't going to go out of his way for Team RWBY to learn how to kill another sentient being. He will let them hold on to that naivety for a while longer.

Aside from lacking a killer's edge, Team RWBY also shared another weakness among the four of them.

They were all too reckless. Always throwing themselves headfirst into a conflict beyond them. Fools, the lot of them.

The girls really needed to learn how to pick their battles before they found themselves way out of their depths. They needed to know that dumb luck wasn't always going to allow a more experienced fighter to swoop in to save their collective asses.

It was fine for Guardians to impulsive but it was because the literal pains of death would teach them otherwise. A Guardian would die the most during the early stages of their career for it was where they were at their most inexperienced but as time went on, the centuries old veterans avoided dying like it would have been their last, a disposition that Shin Malphur followed with a passion. Since he never actually died, he was always aware of his own mortality, thus prevented him suffering death even once.

Summer Rose however was actually notorious for dying _outside_ _of battle_ more times than actually dying during battle.

Team RWBY didn't have the same luxury. If their recklessness got themselves killed, then that would be that and Shin didn't want to rely on the deus ex machina of a Ghost bringing back them to life.

Because he accepted Cayde-6's request, Shin was going to have to teach them this lesson. What better way to teach them that than to give them a firsthand experience?

It was kind of a dick move but he didn't accept the task of training them if he was just going to go easy on them. By the Traveler, Shin was going to whip these girls into shape and they will hate him for it.

"Shin Malphur," he introduced himself to his future students as he holstered the Last Word with a twirl, "Pleased to beat you."

00000

"Why are you doing this!?" Ruby demanded, trying to draw newly introduced Shin Malphur's attention to her while Blake subtly inched back to retrieve their weapons, "You're a Guardian, right? You're supposed to be one of the good guys! So why, why did you kill my, my."

Ruby stopped as she choked back a sob at the thought of her beloved sister. How she couldn't do anything as she, she-

"She's still alive, you know," Shin Malphur interrupted her thoughts before she could break down, "That chokehold I put her in is meant to knock them out. Not kill them."

The remaining members of Team RWBY wanted to sink down to their knees in relief but they quickly stopped themselves for they were not out of the woods just yet.

Yang would have really appreciated that unintentional joke if she wasn't unconscious like the man said she was.

"And you should know that all Guardians are Risen," the man added with a slight tilt of his head, "But not all Risen are Guardians."

Risen, another name that was bestowed upon the ones chosen and brought back to life by a Ghost. The first Iron Lords would under the category of Risen but so would the tyrannical Warlords and the treacherous Dredgen Yor. Being a Risen didn't necessarily mean one automatically became a Guardian. In the end, it all came down to what path the Risen in question would follow, whether or not it was the right one.

"So while you may be a Risen, you are no Guardian," the Schnee heiress concluded, quickly catching on what her teammates were trying to do.

"Me and the Vanguard have our disagreements," he shrugged, "But that's history. Literally."

"How so?"

The former White Fang member stilled when Malphur made a move with his right hand. She had already experienced how fast those hands could be.

(And she just realized how that thought could be misconstrued by others if said aloud.)

Blake only allowed herself to relax when it was shown that the man wasn't about to make a hostile move.

"Oh, I keep forgetting Remnant hasn't heard of me yet," Shin said as he raised his right hand to brush some dust off his left shoulder, "It's actually kinda refreshing. People not knowing who I am."

"And who are you exactly?" Weiss interjected as she secretly gathered her power in one hand and signaled to the cat faunus with the other, "You already told us your name but not why people on Earth should know who you are."

"Why don't you ask a Guardian that?" he waved dismissively before he hummed in contemplation, "In fact…your mother…"

"What?" Ruby tensed, finally remembering that she left her mother in a dire predicament, "What about my mom?"

"I'm surprised Summer Rose hasn't told you girls about me yet," he said before his usual cocky yet casual tone became deadly serious, "After all, I tried to kill her."

Before the girls, Ruby especially could respond to that revelation, Malphur flickered out of sight, alarming the three first year students. The strong hand gripping Blake's shoulder from behind alerted the cat faunus to the current whereabouts of the man.

As she was about to try to break free from Malphur's grasp and call out to her teammates, a powerful surge of Arc energy flowed from his hand and into her body, causing her to violently convulse from the intense shocks.

"Blake!" the last two members of Team RWBY cried out in horror as the man let the former White Fang member fall into an unconscious heap from being subjected to so much electricity.

Changing the target of her semblance, Weiss summoned a glyph under her leader's feet. The design on the glyph spun around as if a clock wounding down. Blood drained from the heiress' face after realizing that she just gave a time dilation enhancement to the most energetic member of Team RWBY who also happened to have a speed-based semblance.

The horrified expression on the white-haired girl quickly shifted into a vicious grin. A terrible idea that may have been but she could bet that not even Shin Malphur expected for them to pull off something like that.

Activating her semblance, Ruby kicked off the ground and became a red blur, rose petals swirling in the slipstream left in her wake. Massive clumps of dirt were picked up as she became a veritable hurricane that was heading towards the man that had disabled half of her team.

A glyph formed beneath the man's feet as he found himself suddenly rooted to the spot. From where she stood, the second child of the Schnee family aimed her palm at the man, using her family's trademark semblance to keep him in place. Her teeth gritted against each other so hard that they were in danger of cracking as she struggled with all of her might to maintain the glyph for even a second for the man proved too strong to be restrained for longer than that.

A second wasn't enough time for Ruby to speed past him even with the current velocity her semblance was propelling her to recover their weapons so she must use this opportunity that Weiss gave her for an all or nothing attack that would decide the outcome of this encounter.

The young leader of Team RWBY may have lost almost all of her offensive capabilities after having been disarmed but she still had her semblance. If she ran fast enough, she could inflict just as much damage as Yang so under the effects of the time dilation, she turned herself into the equivalent of a living tornado with all of the deadly force it contained. Hopefully, the man wouldn't be left standing after something like that hitting him head on.

But there was one thing that the two girls forgot about Guardians of the Hunter class. They had overlooked the fact that every Hunter possessed the ability to teleport and that it wasn't an exclusive thing that Summer can do. It was just the White Rose's specialty.

Ruby and Weiss realized this fact a moment too late as Shin Malphur's form dispersed into smoke-like energy particles, leaving the trap glyph empty of its quarry. He rematerialized beside the red human rocket and snatched her by the arm. Whirling on his heel, he redirected Ruby's flight towards the white garbed girl.

Light blue eyes widening, Weiss barely had enough time to project a barrier glyph in front of her let alone one that would allow her to dodge in time. Attempting to slow herself down, Ruby still crashed headlong into the projection at high speeds, shattering it in an instant before unintentionally barreling into her partner the second time today. A red and white shimmer flickered all over Ruby and Weiss' forms respectively, signaling that they were both depleted of Aura completely.

As for Shin Malphur, he expended little effort and energy to subdue all of Team RWBY in a timely manner.

All four members of Team RWBY laid prone on the ground, half were rendered unconscious while the other half were groaning in pain and wishing that they were knocked out.

"You two almost had me there with that last attack," Malphur admitted as he began to approach them at a leisurely pace, "But they don't give out rewards for 'almost'."

There was an undiscernible shift in the air that the two beaten girls didn't detect but Malphur definitely did as he quickly jumped back. The previous spot where he was standing suddenly erupted, sending a cascade of dirt and grass flying.

The cloud of dust was sliced cleanly in a horizontal line as a massive sword came soaring towards Malphur. The man arched his back, bending backwards far enough for the blade to miss by half an inch. Even with the attack missing its mark, the force of the swing blew the remaining dust cloud away to reveal Qrow Branwen, the uncle of Ruby and Yang.

By the hard expression on his face, the scythe-master meant serious business.

"Stay away from my nieces," he told the Risen with a clear warning in his gruff tone before adding with an afterthought, "And their friends too, I guess."

The veteran Huntsman continued his assault, furiously swinging his blade at the man who barely dodged them by a millimeter. Malphur's leg lashed out at his midsection only to smack against the flat side of his blade. The strength behind the kick pushed Qrow's weapon to the side, leaving him open for a brief moment.

The man drew his hand cannon and fired several rounds at the Huntsman. Qrow twirled his blade around like a propeler, creating a virtual shield to deflect the high caliber bullets. He closed in on the Gunslinger and brought his sword down upon him. Diving to the side, he discharged three rounds at point blank range at the scythe-master, making him twirl his blade around to act as a measure of defense once more.

He reloaded his hand cannon in an instant and squeezed the trigger in rapid succession again while Qrow simply kept spinning his weapon. His eyes widened in disbelief when instead of bouncing off the side of his sword, the bullets bypassed it completely, slipping through the miniscule gaps between each revolution of his guard.

The Huntsman had vastly underestimated how good of a deadeye the Gunslinger was as his Aura took a huge dip when his body shook from each high caliber bullet impacting his body. Ignoring the searing pain from the enemy's projectiles, he powered on through the salvo and launched a mighty sonic wave in retaliation at the man.

The man stepped to the side to avoid the sonic wave but the wave was merely serving as a distraction for Qrow to close in on him again. His body swiftly weaved around the swings of the Huntsman's massive blade as he counterattacked with a discharged from his hand cannon in a series of gun-katas. The scythe-master was forced to pull his swings so that he could bend himself out of the bullets' way.

Qrow was not going to suffer a barrage from that hand cannon again. If the man emptied the entire cylinder of that monster of a gun on him again, his Aura wasn't going to be the only thing taking a beating. Seriously, each shot felt like he was being walloped by a Goliath Grimm.

The Huntsman raised his weapon to deflect the Gunslinger's salvo on the flat side of the blade when he suddenly twisted out of the way of a pistol whip, forcing his enemy to overextend his arm.

Because of his current position that his maneuver put him in, Qrow was unable to capitalize on the opening that his adversary made before it would be corrected. Then it was a good thing that Qrow wasn't the only one fighting here.

Concealed in the shadow of his blade, Taiyang Xiao Long came rushing in to deliver a devastating haymaker at the man. The Xiao Long patriarch and the male Branwen were partners in battle for years so they knew how the other fought to the point that they could act as a single cohesive unit. They needed little prompting whenever their partner provided an opening to exploit.

"Well-played," the man said, unable to evade the blow in time as the yellow dragon's fist smashed into the faceplate of his helmet. Cracks were formed on the faceplate and spread out to the rest of the helmet as the man was sent flying by the power behind that punch.

As more cracks appeared on his helmet, he was able to right himself in midair. He threw his head to the side as Qrow's blade came dangerously close to his face. The tip of the blade still managed to graze his already damaged helmet and apparently, that was the straw that broke the camel's back as the piece of equipment fell apart from the stress it was put through, revealing what was hidden by it in the process.

Taiyang, Qrow and the half of Team RWBY watching from the sidelines froze in shock as the man's face was in full view.

The man's features were sharp, almost hawk-like even, and his face was framed by red tipped brown locks. However, the most noteworthy feature on his face were his-

"You have-" the male Branwen couldn't finish whatever he was about to say as he and his partner were blasted back by the hand cannon's volley.

"Silver eyes, I know," Shin Malphur finished for him as he reloaded the Last Word, "It's only about the thousandth time someone said that to me."

"Although," his silver eyes focused on Qrow Branwen, gauging his reaction, "I have a feeling that only one of you has an idea of what it means for a human to possess these eyes."

"How the hell do you have those eyes?" Qrow growled as he and Tai stood ready for another confrontation. They didn't relax their stances in the slightest when the man placed his hand cannon back into its holster. They had already seen how fast he was on the draw and they will not let themselves be taken off guard.

"How are you related to Summer!?" Taiyang demanded. He may not know the significance of silver eyes like Qrow did but he could see that Shin shared some features with Summer other than the obvious silver eyes. Malphur could pass off as a direct relative of the Rose family, a fact that unnerved the Xiao Long patriarch very much.

"Isn't obvious? I," silvery light poured out of Shin's eyes as he spread his arms apart as if welcoming them or to be overly dramatic, "Am Summer's father."

"Bullshit," Taiyang spat derisively as he glared at the man for making such a claim while Qrow shared the same sentiments as him and glowered at Malphur.

"Eh, it was worth a shot," the Gunslinger shrugged, dropping the act and raising his hands in surrender, "We're actually really, _really_ distant cousins removed by the nth degree."

"But for simplicity's sake, Summer just calls me Uncle Shin," he told them, much to their shock, "Speaking of which, where is she? She should've gotten my message that I was coming by now."

Qrow and Tai exchanged glances with each other, still not entirely sure that they could trust this Shin Malphur character.

"Say we _do_ believe your crackpot story of being Summer's uncle," the blond man intoned as his expression hardened, "Where on Remnant did you think assaulting my daughters and their friends was okay!?"

"I wanted to see what they can do," he replied unapologetically before he became thoughtful, "I may have went a bit overboard with that however."

"A bit overboard, huh?" the father of Yang and Ruby gritted his teeth as his fists tightened, "You call beating them into submission _a bit overboard_!"

"Overboard would be permanently crippling them," Shin retorted, unperturbed by the man's justified anger, "Way overboard would be actually killing them."

The male former members of Team STRQ found their tempers rising once more and was about to rush at the Gunslinger together.

"I see you made it, Malphur," the voice of Lux Sylphid came from above, causing them to gaze upward to track the Awoken, "You arrived earlier than we thought you would."

Up in the sky were the other members of Fireteam Nero as they slowly descended to the ground, the both of them being kept aloft by the Warlock's power.

"And yet again, you have started another unnecessary conflict," Prometheus-23 stated with clear disapproval in his synthetic tone as his and Lux's feet touched the earth, "With children no less."

"They can take it. Team RWBY's made of tougher stuff than you think," Shin replied as the two former members of Team STRQ relaxed their stances somewhat. The other members of Fireteam Nero had all but confirmed Shin Malphur's story by acknowledging him. It still didn't mean that the two men were going to trust or accept the Gunslinger just yet.

"It's bad enough that you started another fight with Summer but you just had to do the same with her daughter."

The smirk on the Gunslinger's face fell away at the Titan's words, turning into one of alarm, "What fight with Summer?"

00000

Dredgen Vena looked through the scope of her sniper rifle as she carefully observed something interesting about her quarry.

"Well, well, well," the Dark Hunter mused to herself as she reloaded, "It looks like Summer isn't such the paragon of Light as everyone says she was."


	13. A Shadow's Flame and a Rose's Spark

AN:

There are currently two tie-in stories to Remnant of an Iron Rose. They are "Remnants of a Titan" by RabidArmenian and "Neo and the Wolves of Mars" by Dustiniz117. Don't worry, the both of them asked for my permission to write their own tie-in stories and I allowed it so you don't have to bash them or something. Just give their stories a shot.

Although, RabidArmenian does need a beta-reader for his story if anyone's interested.

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Chapter 13

The moment the Last City learned of Remnant's existence, the Shadows of Yor thought little of it. They believed that the discovery of a former colony from the Golden Age would not benefit their faction's goals in the long term. Even though many members of the Shadows of Yor would find immense enjoyment from the battles to come in order to ensure Remnant's safety, they had no interest in the inhabitants of that planet. After all, what use was a primitive and fractured people to the Shadows' goal in studying the intricacies of the Darkness?

That was their initial belief until they came across the information pertaining to the Grimm.

The Grimm, creatures of Darkness that had plagued the world of Remnant for as long as its denizens could remember, were of great interest to the Shadows of Yor. Having been said to be born from the Darkness, they were a race so similar to the Taken that the upper echelons of the Shadows became fascinated with their existence.

The fledgling Grimm didn't possess higher brain cognition like that of a sentient being but if a specimen lived long enough, their natural capabilities would be strengthened as well as their intelligence. The only downside to this evolutionary process was that it took a considerably long period of time that could span from decades to even centuries for a Grimm to achieve this kind of level and there were no guarantees that it would not be slain by a Huntsman before then.

Not only that but the creatures were ingrained with a sense of restraint, only directing their aggression towards humans and faunus. For the most part, the Grimm would ignore animals and machine unless provoked and their presence in an area even helped preserved the natural environment.

The possibilities were almost endless if the Shadows of Yor could harness the power of the Grimm for their own. They would also no longer have to completely rely on the personal journal of Toland the Shattered for knowledge on the Hive and the race's expertise on the Darkness.

The Hive may have been the more powerful species of Darkness compared to the Grimm but it was all too easy to become corrupted by the Darkness and lose their sanity in spite of the massive increase in powers and abilities that one would receive from it.

The Shadows may have desired to master the Darkness like their idol Dredgen Yor had but they did not wish to lose their minds trying to achieve this task. Insanity made it quite difficult to hide how far they have reached in their research. It would no doubt attract undue attention from the Vanguard as well as Shin Malphur, the slayer of Dredgen Yor, which was something that the Shadows could not afford.

The Grimm may be the key to their research if they can somehow combine the discriminate aggression of the Grimm and the exponential growth rate of the Hive. Incorporating the abilities of the two species may be unprecedented and could prove disastrous if not handled carefully, which was why the Shadows required to send in an agent to gather intelligence on the Grimm in Remnant.

The Shadows of Yor were severely lacking in information concerning the Grimm but the upper echelon of the Shadows could make an educated guess that something was controlling the Grimm. There was always a head of an expansive race like this. Something that all Alphas saw as their uncontested superior. It was only a matter of finding what it was and its location. Fortunately, they were able to deduce the most likely lair of the supposed Grimm King (or Queen) to somewhere deep into the Grimmlands, where it was largely unexplored by the people of Remnant.

The Shadows of Yor chose to deploy their most promising agent, Dredgen Vena to Remnant. The Dark Hunter may have been recruited quite recently, half a decade at best, and yet she had displayed a high leveled aptitude with channeling the Darkness and manipulating it in ways never before seen in their order. She even pioneered a Dark subclass of the Hunter path that set their experimentations forward by countless decades. To the Shadows of Yor, Dredgen Vena was the Summer Rose to the Vanguard, rising in ranks at a rapid pace in their order like the White Rose among her fellow Guardians.

It was to be expected of someone chosen by the Necrochasm, one of the last remaining Weapons of Sorrow.

No doubt, she would be capable of producing the desirable results for their experimentation. She even proved herself a competent spy by successfully sneaking past the vigilant gaze of Lord Saladin Forge, the former Titan Vanguard. In spite of stepping down from his illustrious position, the last Iron Lord had not lost his edge in the least, which spoke well of Vena's skill of having avoided his attention.

Of course, Vena was ordered that her assignment had to be done discretely for if they attempted to use official channels to enter the former lost colony, they would have to disclose their true intentions to the Vanguard. The request would not only be just rejected, it would also mean Shadows of Yor's immediate expulsion from the Last City and without the Tower's protection, Shin Malphur would be free to hunt them down one by one with a vengeance.

The Gunslinger always sought a proper reason to eliminate the Shadows of Yor and their practicing the Dark arts would be more than a just cause for him to do so.

This fact was extensively stressed to Dredgen Vena and in spite of her assurances, the Shadows of Yor remained cautious because like Summer Rose, Vena could be quite impulsive and downright confrontational at times. Qualities that were only amplified by possessing the Necrochasm.

To alleviate the worries of her superiors, Vena not only discovered the queen of the Grimm but she also came into close contact with it, forming an "alliance" with it. The Dark Hunter was told to study the Grimm Queen to see what made it tick and to humor it with promises of greater power than its own to make the idea of an "alliance" between them all the more compelling. And if a more _physical_ persuasion was needed, then she would be free to do so in any manner she wished just as long as the being known as Salem survived the ordeal.

Obviously, Shadows of Yor saw Salem more as a means to an end, a test subject if you will, than an actual prospective ally but it didn't need to know that information. It needed to believe that it had a choice in the matter to make it more compliant to their demands.

Dredgen Vena's success was made even better when she stumbled upon the body of Dr. Merlot, a scientist that was already researching the Grimm in its entirety. The Shadows' own method of resurrection wasn't as efficient as a Ghost's but the man had died quite recently before his corpse was retrieved by Vena so he still retained a good portion of his memories, mainly the ones about the Grimm. The personal ones that _were_ lost in transitioned were of no consequences to the Shadows as long as the man continued his studies on the Grimm, which he did with much more gusto than ever before. After all, it was not long after his resurrection so it would be too soon for him to work on manipulating the Darkness.

Communications between the Shadows of Yor and their agent were slow as well as everyone else's until the Vanguard managed to convince the Councils of Remnant to allow for the Guardians to install a communications array around the planet's orbit. The satellites were already built so it was only a matter of requesting permission to place them in Remnant's orbit.

Until then, Dredgen Vena was ordered to bide her time studying the Grimm Queen and discovering ways to incorporate Grimm biology and Hive magic. When the chance arose, she was to eliminate Salem's cohorts, subdue the Grimm Queen and smuggle it back to Earth. She was also told to exterminate Dr. Merlot should he become a liability and if not, welcome the good doctor to the Shadows of Yor's ranks.

They were now playing the waiting game, which was Dredgen Vena's least favorite game to play and with Merlot doing all of the necessary research for her, she found herself with very little things to do to occupy her time. Normally, she indulge herself by slaughtering her enemies but killing the Grimm by the hundreds would piss off her generous "host". She couldn't take out her frustrations on the criminal underworld since it was also a valuable resource for Salem's faction and there was the possibility of word spreading about a warrior dressed in Guardian gear taking out the criminal elements, which would elicit an investigation from the Vanguard, leading to her eventual discovery.

And yet the worst thing that Vena could have possibly done was to attack one of the Guardians stationed here on Remnant, which she was currently doing by sniping Summer Rose, the hero of the Last City herself.

The Dark Hunter was aware that assaulting the White Rose was a terribly bad idea but she just couldn't help herself. Vena was made for fighting, she _lived_ for it. She was never meant to sit idly by while pretending to play nice with such inferior beings. Seeing Guardian Rose from afar during her scouting of Remnant was the last straw. She wanted to pit herself against the chosen wielder of Thorn, to see if the Godslayer lived up to her reputation.

To fight a worthy foe was Vena's greatest desire and Summer Rose definitely could be considered as such. Salem would have also been classified under this category if only the Grimm Queen hadn't fallen short against the Deceiver subclass, the single path of the Dark Hunters where Vena was the _least_ _experienced_ in.

Then again, the Deceiver was designed to elude your foes and misdirect in many ways until their guard was lowered enough to deliver a decisive blow. It worked all too well against the Grimm Queen but Dredgen Vena suspected that it wouldn't be as effective the second time. That was fine though. She still had other tricks to rely on.

Seeing Summer Rose approach her position at an alarming pace, Dredgen Vena ceased her shooting and lowered her sniper rifle. She dropped down from where she was perched on a tree and landed lightly on the soft earth below as the gun in her hands was engulfed by a bright green light. With the Necrochasm reverted into its initial form, Vena slung Weapon of Sorrow on her back.

With a weapon that possessed interchangeably forms like the Necrochasm, the Dark Hunter only ever needed one firearm in her personal loadout. However, she still required to carry around spare ammunition for the respective forms that the Necrochasm took. If it was in an auto rifle form, it needed auto rifle ammo to keep firing. If it was in a sniper rifle form, it needed sniper rounds to do the job. So on and so forth. There was only so much that a Weapon of Sorrow could do, no matter how flexible its capabilities were. It couldn't make bullets that weren't already in the attached magazine.

But she digressed. Summer Rose was getting closer to her position by the second and the Vanguard would soon learn of the Shadows of Yor's unsanctioned presence here on Remnant. Luckily, Vena had a plan to ensure that Shadows remained anonymous even though she just came up with it on the spot.

Dredgen Vena pressed a button on the side of her helmet and the headpiece dematerialized into blue particles as it returned into her personal storage unit but not before taking out a certain item from her inventory.

The item that she took out from her inventory was a mask, more like a visor that would cover the upper half of her face. It had thin slits for the eyes to see through, a bony white appearance and red markings. All in all, these features gave a frightening resemblance to the creatures of the Grimm.

Or to symbolized the wearer's affiliation to the White Fang.

Unlike those radical faunus, Dredgen Vena didn't put the mask on her face to symbolized the marginalized misguided attempts at justice. She put it on to both play a charade to fool the Guardians and to finally let the hungry beast inside of her out.

Her eyes burned so brightly that they resembled red orbs peering through the mask's eyeholes. An ink-like substance crawled up the skin of her neck until it engulfed her face from under the mask. The dirty white of her darkhollow armor stood out even more as that same substance proceeded to cover every inch of her body not covered by the chitinous material.

But what really stood out in this transformation were the Dark Hunter's arms.

Segmented chitinous plates covered the outer parts of her arms from elbow to wrist. Rising from along the back of her hand to stretch over her fingers were forty centimeters long blood-red blades tipped with wickedly barbed hooks. The bone-like plates then began to crack a little bit, showing a red glow between the cracks like exposed magma.

Dredgen Vena slammed her newly formed claws into the ground, digging the barbed tips into the dirt as she stood on all fours and was hunched over like a wild animal ready to strike. Smoke began to rise as the earth beneath the claws were scorched black. She bared her teeth in a throaty growl as the canines grew longer and sharper in length. The scarf of the Shadowsmiths Cloak flared out as if they were living appendages than strips of cloth. Throwing her head back, she let out a roar so primal that it would have immediately triggered the fight or flight response (but mostly the latter) of any living being within hearing range.

Instead of an operative of the White Fang, the Dark Hunter now closely resembled a Grimm in its entirety. Or to be more specific, she now took on an appearance more like Salem's battle form with her own twist added into the mix.

Another reason that the Shadows of Yor took an interest in the Grimm. For one of the unique abilities that they have concocted from wielding the Darkness to take on an appearance similar to a Grimm before they even discovered Remnant's existence, it couldn't be a coincidence.

Dredgen Vena would have pondered more on this but instead she chose to lunge towards the tree line where the White Rose was about to come out from.

00000

Summer Rose didn't know for sure who her attacker was or what was their beef with her but whatever the Hunter was expecting her assailant to be wasn't anything like she thought it was.

What appeared to be a humanoid-shaped Grimm burst out from the tree lines and lunged towards her at shocking speeds. Raising Bolt-caster to activate the Arc-shield, Summer blocked the initial charge as the ground cracked beneath her feet. Her assailant kicked off the energy shield and vaulted over her, swiping its claws as it went.

The Guardian quickly ducked under the slash, idly noting that those claws had a far longer reach than she thought as a small burning trench was suddenly carved into the ground in front of her. Spinning on her heel, she retaliated with a backhand swing with her sword. The humanoid Grimm raised its arm and caught the blade with its armored forearm. Using the momentum from blocking the strike, it twisted into her guard with a sweep of its other claw.

She twirled Thorn so that she was now holding the hand cannon in a reverse grip, its barrel resting by the side of her forearm. She brought the gun scything under her adversary's attack, knocking the arm up and consequently its blade safely away from her person. She then lashed out with Bolt-caster, aiming to sever the limb from its shoulder.

Displaying a remarkable sense of combat awareness, the Grimm swept its arm upwards, deflecting her sword stab and knocking the weapon away from its form with its armored forearm once again. It bared the claws the of its other arm swung them at the Guardian. The White Rose brought Thorn up and caught the claws by its barrel, its otherworldly materials and make easily withstanding the superheated blades.

Reversing her grip on Bolt-caster, Summer smacked the butt of its hilt into the midsection of the Grimm, causing it to double over. She brought her knee up to smash the appendage into its bony white mask only to hit the palm of its clawed hand instead. The Guardian swiftly pulled her leg back before its claws could grasp her limb.

The Grimm pivoted its hip and jabbed a claw towards the Guardian's face, which she was able to effectively parry the stab away from her with the flat end of Bolt-caster. Her enemy then followed up its failed attack with a spinning fire-imbued back kick, which she quickly ducked under the limb as a couple of trees behind her were reduced to ashes.

The Grimm swiped at her with its blood red claws once more only for them to cut through a swirl of white rose petals as she used her semblance to reposition herself above the enemy and swung her leg downwards in an axe kick. Her adversary merely planted its feet and took the full force of her kick head on.

A crater of considerable size formed under the Grimm's feet and yet it remained standing in spite of taking a devastating attack on the crown of its head. It pushed its head up, forcefully pushing Summer's leg up and throwing her off balance. While the Guardian was trying to right herself in midair, her assailant rushed her with a flurry of slashes from its claws. She was barely able to put up a defense against the assault and yet defending herself from the attacks kept her in the air, thus preventing her from regaining her footing.

Her lack of a proper footing proved detrimental for her when the Grimm-like being struck her guard hard enough to leave her open for the fiery kick to bury itself into her abdomen. An explosion from the attacking limb suddenly detonated and she shot off like she was fired from a cannon, smashing through half a dozen trees before she managed to regain her bearings and righted herself in midair.

Sufficiently recovered, Summer saw that her foe was chasing after her on all fours, leaving a trail of flames in its wake. It was in no time that it was close enough to lunge at her with claws bared, forcing her to raise Bolt-caster to activate the Arc shield once more. Even though she was able to protect herself in time, her back still painfully crashed into the earth, sending up cascades of rocks and dirt.

Basically straddling over the Guardian, her adversary continuously wailed against the energy shield with its claws as the shield flickered dangerously in and out of existence. The shield wasn't going last long at this rate and neither would she if it failed her now so she did the only that she could think of in this situation to turn the tide.

The three glowing green eyes of the Mask of the Third Man was overwhelmed by the silver light pouring out of Summer's eyes as her form was covered in Arc energy. Bolt-caster's energy cell was immediately revitalized as the sword discharged a powerful surge of electricity right in the enemy's face, launching it into an uncontrollable tumble high into the air.

Once the Grimm-like being reached the peak of its impromptu flight, Summer materialized above it and brought her sword down in a mighty cleave. Her enemy was able to cross its armored forearms to receive the full brunt of her strike but it was still sent crashing down into the earth at way past terminal velocity, causing the earlier formed crater to deepen and widen itself into a greater degree.

Her assailant shakily got back to its feet as it shifted various parts of its body back into place with a painful crack for each one. It quickly flipped backwards as the length of Summer's blade drove into its previous spot. Dislodging her sword, the Hunter swung her weapon upwards and launched a barrage of electrical waves.

Her enemy let out a vicious roar at the encroaching Arc blasts and then proceeded to slap them to the side with its clawed gauntlets, causing the attacks to wipe out the surrounding trees instead. Fires erupted from the cracks of its vambraces as it zigzagged around the Guardian at a much greater speed than before, using the flames emerging out of its as some rudimentary thrusters. The Guardian's form flickered out of sight before appearing again whilst trading blows with her opponent at such blinding speeds, that they looked like a lightning bolt and a firebolt clashing with one another to prove their dominance as more trees were annihilated from their battle.

As two huge explosions, one of electricity and the second of fire, collided with each other, Summer Rose and the being of Darkness could be found at the very center, locking weapons with one another. As they pushed at each others guard with all of their strength to overpower the other, her opponent gave the Guardian a wolfish grin that showed a remarkable amount of bloodlust and the White Rose, despite herself, returned it with one of her own from under her helmet.

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AN:

Here's the next Dark Hunter subclass.

Predator – _"The Solar fires of the beast dwells within you. Use it to hunt your prey down."_

Melee ability: Inferno Rings – conjures rings of fire by the wielder's feet to augment their kicks. Also, temporarily increases movement speed.

Super ability: Primal Beast – the hungry beast slumbering within has finally awoken. Partially transform the user into a feral predator with Solar-imbued claws, enhanced strength and reflexes.

I based this subclass on the abilities of both Valkyr and Nezha from the game, Warframe and the Marduk from God Eater 2. As you have no doubt guessed by now, I get a lot of my inspirations from other games.


	14. White Fang

AN:

There are currently three tie-in stories to Remnant of a Rose.

"Remnants of a Titan" by RabidArmenian (he's still looking for a beta-reader if anyone's interested)

"Neo and the Wolves of Mars" by Dustiniz117

"Mapping a Forgotten World" by Renegade Saint

They're all in my favorites and I suggest you check it out. Also, don't forget about the poll on my profile. Be sure to place your vote.

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Chapter 14

Summer Rose was beginning to think that the being she was currently fighting was not an ordinary Grimm. Granted, the fact that it took on a humanoid and evidently female form was the first thing that clued her in to this strange being's abnormalities. What really told the White Ross that she wasn't battling a normal Grimm was how it was able to keep pace with a Guardian like her even after releasing her internal limiters to unleash her customized Arc Blade.

She had already heard the stories that Remnant had on the Ancient Grimm. It was said that they were an exclusive group of Grimm that had endured for countless generations, more than long enough for them to attain an intelligence and cunning to match humans. They even possessed unique abilities that were comparable to a semblance, which was why Summer wasn't that surprised by how her opponent could spew fire out of its arms and legs. Ancient Grimm were so powerful that one of them on the rampage was believed to be able to level an entire city within a day.

And Salem was said to be one of them, which spoke of how truly dangerous the Grimm Queen was.

Fortunately for the people of Remnant, Ancient Grimm were so rare that their numbers could be counted on one hand. Or at least the ones that humanity were aware of. Not only that but these creatures were usually in very deep slumber and only vast amounts of negative emotions could rouse them into activity.

Coincidentally enough, an Ancient Grimm awoken in the continent of Anima during the peak of the Vex War only to be instantly vaporized as collateral damage by Nihileon's sonic wave attack.

The being that Summer was currently in battle with definitely had a stark similarity to a Grimm in appearance, looking like a hooded Salem with a visor/mask. But the way it fought was much more than any Grimm could fight, Ancient-class or otherwise. In fact, Summer didn't feel like she was facing a Grimm. It felt like she was fighting another Guardian from the way it would quickly adapt to her tactics and fighting style.

Summer may not have fought Salem herself but she did see how the Grimm Queen stacked up on the battlefield so the Guardian was able to do a rough estimate of Salem's combat prowess. She could say for certain that this being would tear Salem apart if the two ever came to blows. The Grimm Queen could put up a worthwhile fight and may even win if she had another trick hidden up her sleeve but in a head-on confrontation against Fire Claw here (Summer's nickname for her opponent), she would lose.

So why only now did Fire Claw choose to reveal itself? If Salem had a Grimm that could contend with a veteran Guardian like Summer Rose, then why hadn't she set it loose upon the Vex or even on humanity earlier?

The Guardian swatted the forearm of the Grimm with Bolt-caster, diverting the claw swipe away from her. The being of Darkness used the momentum of its failed attack to spin behind her with a clawed backhand, which she blocked with the Hunter knife in her other hand. She wasn't able to reposition her body completely as its other claw carved deep gashes into her side, causing rivers of blood to pour profusely out of her injuries.

Gritting her teeth, Summer whipped behind her, cracking the point of her elbow into her opponent's cheek and momentarily stunning it. She then smashed the sole of her boot into the side of its kneecap, forcefully bringing it toppling down to one knee.

Seizing that opening, Summer thrust the tip of her knife at its throat, the distance between them too short to effectively utilize her sword without it being avoided. Seeing the attack coming, the Grimm quickly moved its body to the side as the small blade buried up to the hilt into its shoulder. The knife's tip burst from its back in a spear of lightning, immediately vaporizing the blood that erupted from the wound.

The Grimm roared in fury and agony as the power of Arc surged throughout its body, frying whatever passed for nerves in its kind. It stomped a flame-imbued foot on the ground beneath them and the earth exploded out from under Summer, destabilizing her footing. The being of Darkness brought its knee up with flames spewing from the foot of that same leg to amplify the speed and force of its attack.

All the Guardian was able to do was jump back to lessen the impact of the kick but she was still sent flying into the air. Still deep into the Bladetrance, she swiftly reoriented herself and kicked off the air with a Hunter's signature Air-jump to launch herself back at her opponent who leapt up into the sky to meet her halfway.

Right before they could clash their weapons against each other, Summer vanished in a swirl of white rose petals. The Grimm passed through the rose petals and then found itself encased in a thick block of ice.

As long as it remained within Remnant's atmosphere, Dust was such a useful resource. With just the right kind of Dust, she could slightly alter the effects of her teleportation semblance like using ice Dust to imbue a flash freeze effect to whoever passed through the trail of her semblance.

With its fiery nature (literally), its frozen prison melted in seconds. However, seconds could mean the difference of life or death in a fast-paced battle like this.

Right as the ice converted into water, Summer plunged Bolt-caster into the Grimm's back and the length of the blade burst out of its chest. Her free hand clutched onto the hilt of the knife still impaled in its shoulder as she channeled powerful currents of electricity into both the blades and the surrounding water. The electric current that she poured into the Grimm-like being was so powerful that it boiled the blood in creatures veins and vaporized the liquid around it.

With the last energy of her Arc Blade spent, Summer violently tore her blades out of the Grimm and teleported back to the ground but not before leaving a parting gift behind.

Her semblance was instilled with some fire Dust that she "borrowed" from Weiss Schnee's supply and the white rose petals left in her wake created a slight spark. The spark was too weak to do any damage on the Grimm but it was enough to ignite the highly flammable gases that were left from her earlier stunt with the water and electricity.

Electrolysis – a chemical decomposition produced by passing an electric current through a liquid or solution containing ions and thus separating compounds into their basic elements.

With the power of Arc at Summer's disposal, she was able to replicate the process and converted the water back into oxygen and hydrogen, both of which were highly combustible gases. Of course, she didn't really know the actual scientific process that occurred earlier. All she did was that whenever she used water as a medium for her Arc abilities, the air around it would suddenly become more susceptible to igniting a fire.

So with the proper fuel, a simple spark became an inferno and consumed the Grimm-like being's form before leaving a giant cloud of black smoke behind as the flames dissipated with no more fuel to feed on.

Focusing her senses, Summer could see a humanoid form careening out of the smoke and far into the distance. She took a quick glance at the map of Patch on her HUD and she was able to gauge that it would soon crash into the sea.

Even though she knew that not many could survive an explosion like that, the Guardian wanted to make sure that it was actually dead before deeming the threat neutralized. In their line of work as Guardians, there were a surprising number of beings that could cheat death so it never hurt to confirm their kills.

However, the ocean waves would sweep away whatever was left of the body by the time she caught up to it. Even though she really wanted to, she wouldn't be able to confirm her kill. So it was safe to assume that it wasn't over just yet and that this wouldn't be the last time this new Grimm would be seen.

"Guardian, incoming transmission from Guardian Sylphid," her Ghost, Drei informed her through the helmet's internal comms.

"Patch her through," Summer told him before letting out a short chuckle, "Hehe, _Patch_."

She didn't even intend to make a pun at that moment. It just kind of slipped out.

"It appears that your sense of humor is still intact," Drei stated in a dry tone, "What a pity."

"Summer, where the hell are you!?" the voice of Lux Sylphid bellowed within her helmet and left her ears ringing before she could retort, "We could see explosions all from the other side of the island!"

"That's… a long story, Lux," Summer replied with a wince as she surveyed her surroundings. Or rather what was left of her surroundings.

A good portion of the island's forest was levelled in the conflict with multiple patches of scorched earth here and there.

"Really, now?" Lux remarked in an unamused tone as Summer could practically hear the Warlock arch a brow, "Mind telling me?"

"Not through the comm lines," Summer told the Awoken in a serious tone as she mounted her sparrow and began making her back to human civilization, "But I will send you the video feed from my helmet."

"…I see," Lux stated after mulling over what the Hunter said to her, "We'll compile a report and then send it to Cayde after he gets back from his errand in Menagerie."

"Right, I'll see you guys when I get back. Over and out," the Hunter said before terminating the call.

"Drei, did you get a good look at what was on that thing's back?" she asked her Ghost as she finally made it to an area that wasn't levelled in the earlier battle.

"My apologies, Guardian but it was moving much too fast for me to perform a proper analysis," he informed her as he showed her stilled images of the being that attacked her, "However, I can tell that the weapon it had in its possession was indeed Hive-make in origin."

"Things can never be simple for me, can it?" she sighed in a dejected manner as she skillfully weaved the sparrow around trees and Grimm, "I thought we earned ourselves a break after killing Nihileon but I guess that's too much to ask for."

"I'm afraid so, Guardian," Drei agreed with her as he sighed too, "I'm afraid so."

A being that shared so many similar traits with the Grimm and also possessed a Hive gun. _Great_ because that was exactly what Remnant needed at the moment after having gone through a war with the Vex.

The Vex was already bad enough but now, there was a Grimm that somehow had some kind of connection to the Hive. One that could also match a Guardian of Summer Rose's caliber at that.

What's next? A techno-organic plague threatening to consume all life in the galaxy?

Yeah right, who was she kidding? Not even Summer was that unlucky for something outrageous like that to happen.

00000

"You are Cayde-6 of the Vanguard, correct?"

"Yup, that's my name," the Hunter Vanguard was forced to crane his neck to look the other person in the eye even though the both of them were sitting down in a rather quaint looking office, "Don't wear it out."

"Then it was you who sent that team of Guardians to aid my people in our time of need."

"Also true."

"In that case, I, Ghira Belladonna, owe you a huge debt for saving our village," the chief of the only settlement in Menagerie introduced himself.

Ghira Belladonna cut a rather imposing figure with his height and bulk. That was Cayde-6's first impression of the man that led the only village in Menagerie. Hell, he was even bigger than Commander Zavala, a feat in and of itself.

Ghira was a tall, muscular man with black hair, a beard and yellow eyes. For his top, he wore an open dark violet coat with white fur trim, exposing his hairy chest. Over his beige pants was a matching sash that wrapped around his waist and was secured with a large, silver metal buckle. On the shoulder of his coat was a silver metal spaulder, which through a pair of curved strips across the chest attached as a clasp on the opposite front panel of the coat. The white toes of his black leather boots had a shape reminiscent of paws with claws at the tips.

Was this how Summer felt whenever she had to talk to someone much taller than her? If so, Cayde was beginning to understand his protégé's plight and he silently gave her his sympathies. The next time that they meet up, he promised that he would cut down on the short jokes more.

Oh, who was he kidding? The Hunter Vanguard was the only one that could get away with teasing Summer about her height so he was going to milk the benefits for all it was worth.

"It's fine. Just doing what anyone else would've done," Cayde waved his hand to dismiss the praise.

"I'm afraid that is far from the case," the burly faunus' expression set into a slight frown, "Most of the Kingdoms would have ignored our plight in favor for the more densely populated cities. I know this to be true it wasn't the first time a disaster befell our people and yet we were left to fend for ourselves."

"Okay, we did what anyone _from Earth_ would've done," he corrected, rolling his optics. Honestly, the Exo found the discrimination against the faunus people to be quite ridiculous.

What did it matter if a person had animal parts sticking out? As long as they were not mindless beasts out to kill you, the faunus were acceptable in Cayde's book. However, the humans on Remnant didn't share the same sentiments, which was pretty much the reason why the White Fang wanted to initiate another civil war.

"I do admit that I had my doubts but you Guardians are much more accepting of our differences," Ghira conceded as he glanced out the window

Following his gaze, the Hunter Vanguard saw a human Warlock entertaining a gaggle of young faunus children with his otherworldly powers by telekinetically moving some rocks and coconuts. Cayde didn't really know the name of that Warlock but he could tell from the expression on his face that he enjoyed playing with the kids, whether or not they were faunus.

"We earthlings are much more accepting towards anyone not trying to eat our faces," the Exo joked, earning a light chuckle from the tall faunus.

"I am glad to have been proven wrong," Ghira proclaimed with a proud smile, "You may have come from another planet but it warms my heart to finally see humans and faunus living together in coexistence."

"From what my men reported, not everyone thinks the same as you," Cayde stated in an even tone as the proud look faded from the chief's face.

"The representatives of the White Fang had been hounding me for quite some time to remove the Guardians from the island," the faunus man admitted as they turned to face each other once more, "They are getting more persistent with their demands. It's starting to irk me."

"On what grounds did they think it's appropriate to deport my men?"

"On the grounds that some of your Guardians happen to be _humans_ ," the village chief spat with venom, his disdain solely directed at the alleged 'freedom fighters' of the faunus people than at the noble warriors that fought to protect the village and people he led, "They said that humans have no place here in Menagerie. Naturally, I disagreed."

"You know for a group dedicated to fighting unjust prejudices against the faunus people, the White Fang are terribly racist towards humans," Cayde remarked, gauging the man's reaction, "Kind of makes them hypocrites, don't you think?"

Of course, if the Hunter Vanguard said this to a member of the White Fang, they would vehemently disagree while prattling on how it was different and that the humans deserved their disdain. They would then say that all humans were the same, not even realizing how hypocritical their words were.

"It pains me to see how far the White Fang has fallen," the Belladonna patriarch sighed sadly as he shook his head. Apparently, he too had seen how far the formerly peaceful organization had strayed from its initial path.

"Which brings us to the real point of this meeting," the Hunter Vanguard spoke with full business.

"And that is?"

"The White Fang," he answered as Ghira's posture stiffened, "The Vanguard knows that you used to be a part of it."

"I was the group's former leader, actually," the faunus chief confessed as his eyes narrowed at the Exo, "While I may have some influence on them, they no longer answer to my orders."

"Yeeeaaahhh, we might have to fix that," Cayde leaned his elbow on the table and rested his chin on the palm of his hand, "You see, the White Fang is a major issue to the peace of Remnant and we want to nip it in the bud before it escalates out of control."

"You want my help to eliminate the White Fang?" the faunus chief growled as his large hands slammed onto the table.

"Nothing so drastic," the Exo was quick to correct him as Ghira relaxed at the clarifications, "We just wanna make contact with Sierra Khan to negotiate a more peaceful resolution between the faunus people and the kingdoms of Remnant."

Shallow prejudices on either sides were the very reason why Remnant was on the brink of a collapse. Hell, it nearly did the same to the people of the Last City during the Faction Wars before the Guardians put a stop to it. If the worst came to pass, the Last City would step in once more and quash the terrorist organization before more innocent lives would be lost.

But before they resorted to such drastic means, the Vanguard wanted to extend an olive branch towards the leaders of the White Fang in hopes that they would cease all hostilities against humanity.

"…" Ghira Belladonna mulled over the Exo's words, "You want me to arrange a meeting between the Vanguard and Sierra Khan so you could find a peaceful resolution with the White Fang."

"Pretty much."

"If I refuse?"

"Then we'll find someone else to contact Sierra Khan for us."

"And if Sierra Khan refuses your terms."

"Then whatever violence that occurs with the White Fang would be first instigated by the them and them alone."

The Vanguard was willing to give the White Fang one chance and one chance alone to turn back from the road of violence that they were heading into. If the White Fang persisted its pointless vendetta and continued to commit acts of terrorism against the people of Remnant, then whatever retaliation that the Vanguard bring down upon the terrorists was on them.

Cayde-6 knew that he would become a target of the White Fang if the worst came to pass but he couldn't really be blamed for trying to be diplomatic with a terrorist organization that would rather resort to bloodshed than be reasoned with.

Besides, he might even enjoy being in danger of assassination. It would definitely be a whole lot more preferable than doing paperwork all the damn time.

"I…would like to think this over before I come to a decision," the faunus chief gave his answer.

"That's fine. It's a very big request so it's best to have some time to process everything," Cayde nodded his head in understanding as he placed a scroll on the table, "This scroll has been modified to reach me wherever on this planet. Use it to contact me once you made up your mind."

"Or when there's an emergency that your people and the Guardians here can't handle," he added as he stood up from where he was knelt before the table. If he was a normal human person, his knees would have been very sore by now, "I'll be taking my leave. No need to show me out."

"Farewell, Cayde-6 of the Vanguard," Ghira Belladonna stood up and bowed at him, "I thank you once more the generosity you showed to me and my people.

"Anytime, Mr. Belladonna," the Exo Hunter waved in goodbye as he walked out the door, "Good luck running the village and see you later."

" _Belladonna, huh? Why does that name sound familiar?"_ the Hunter Vanguard mentally asked himself as he tried to rack his memory unit for where he heard that surname before. Did he meet a relative of the man, perhaps?

00000

The ocean waves swept across the sandy floor of the beach as the sun was beginning to set, casting the area in a picturesque light as seagulls fluttered here and there. The calming backdrop was suddenly broken when a figure dressed in red and white burst out from the water's surface.

Having emerged from near the shore, Dredgen Vena trudged through the waist deep water until she reached somewhat dry land where she collapsed onto her back from having exuded too much power in her fight against Summer Rose and later to keep herself from dying in a watery grave.

"That could have gone better," the Dark Hunter murmured to herself, uncaring of the sand sticking onto her drenched body. The Necrochasm digging into her back was more than a bit uncomfortable though but she was too drained to care.

Oh well, Vena should probably inform her superiors that Thorn was slowly starting to corrupt Summer Rose just like it did to its previous wielder. Whether that was good news or not was up to her bosses to decide.

00000

AN:

After the next chapter, there's going to be a timeskip of several months.


	15. Prelude to a New Semester

Chapter 15

Ruby Rose stared at the man called Shin Malphur while her teammates glared at the Gunslinger with such a burning intensity that it was a surprise that he hadn't spontaneously combusted yet and that was not even including the looks that Taiyang Xiao Long and Qrow Branwen were giving him. Considering his mastery over the power of Solar, being set ablaze most likely wouldn't affect him in the least.

The young leader of Team RWBY sat across the Gunslinger while her teammates took various position behind her. Weiss stood as poised and dignified as ever behind Ruby's right shoulder while Blake, standing by the red hooded girl's left shoulder, stood taut like a wildcat ready pounce at the slightest provocation. Yang was leaning on the wall next to the kitchen counters as her arms crossed over her chest in a tightened manner.

Taiyang took on a stance similar to his eldest daughter and leaned on a kitchen counter with his thick arms crossed over his broad chest while his partner, Qrow sat on the counter itself and ran a whetstone along the length of his massive blade, not even bothering to hide how much he wanted to use his weapon to carve into the man before him.

Prometheus-23 and Lux Sylphid weren't at the log cabin because they called in by the Hunter Vanguard for an important meeting. As to what the meeting was about, they refused to disclose the details other that Summer Rose wouldn't be returning to Patch until later that day. Seeing that their newest 'guest' didn't really answer to the Vanguard anymore, Shin Malphur opted to stay behind to conduct a proper introduction of himself.

Nonchalant by the blatant hostility from a majority of the room's occupants, Malphur leaned back on his chair and propped his boots on the table. One hand rested next to his belt as the other rolled a bullet in between each fingers. It proved that he had an immense amount of dexterity if he could perform such a delicate exercise unconsciously.

Not that the first year team realized that for they were too inexperienced in gauging a person's ability without having to fight them. They were too busy glaring holes into the man's skull to notice.

Well, most of them at least. The young leader of team RWBY placed her attention on the black and bronze hand cannon laying on top of the table within arm's reach of the Gunslinger.

The weapon was simplistic in design, not possessing an alternate form like most weapons on Remnant and yet it held a great deal of beauty in its functionality. A true weapon shouldn't be beautiful due to how garishly decorated it was but at how well it served its purpose. If it was a weapon that could be wielded by its owner like an extension of their own body, then that was what made it truly appealing.

"You can look all you want but no touching," the voice of Shin Malphur warned as Ruby noticed that her hand was unconsciously reaching out towards the hand cannon on the table.

"Oh, sorry," the red hooded girl quickly pulled her hand back as the Gunslinger picked his hand cannon up (causing the rest of Team RWBY to stiffen in alarm) and placed it back in its holster (allowing the wound up girls to relax).

"What's its name?" Ruby questioned, already moving on from the fact that the scarred man attacked her and her teammates a few hours prior as her gaze still remained on the magnificently crafted gun in his possession.

Sure, Shin had another gun but the second one was smaller and had less stopping power than the hand cannon. Comparing the two guns would be like comparing Excalibur to a butter knife. Similar in shape but ultimately in two different leagues.

"It's called the Last Word," Malphur answered flicked the bullet upwards before he snatched it from the air.

"Doesn't that sound a little presumptuous," Blake remarked with an almost venomous tone. Unlike their leader, the rest of Team still hadn't forgiven Shin Malphur for attacking unprovoked so they had more than what could be called a grudge against him.

"To be fair, it was the previous wielder that named it the Last Word. I just never bothered to change it," the Gunslinger shrugged before smirking at them, "But you had to admit, I did get the last word in when I beat you girls."

That comment riled the black and yellow members of Team RWBY as they made a move to approach him with hostility clear in their eyes. The sound of the Xiao Long patriarch clearing his throat caught the Bumblebee duo's attention and they turned to see the blond man giving them a pointed look before slowly shaking his head.

If they initiated another battle with Shin Malphur at their current level, the result would still be the same with the only differences being how the man chose to subdue them in whatever method he deemed fit and how long he wanted the confrontation to be.

"What you said earlier, about how you tried to kill Summer Rose in the past?" Weiss spoke up, not really defusing the situation as even the adults tensed in alarm and agitation, "Care to elaborate?"

"Oh that. That's just how Guardians say hi to each other. A bit like a pulling a practical joke on people you haven't met yet," Shin explained as he simply resumed rolling the bullet in his hand, "Even if I did manage to kill Summer that time, her Ghost would've just revived her. No permanent harm done."

"So what, does this mean you attacking us was your way of saying 'hello'?" Yang spat derisively as her teeth clenched together.

"Pretty much," the Gunslinger shrugged, "Other than a couple of bruises, the only things that were really hurt badly were your pride."

"So you weren't really going to hurt us?" Ruby asked in a quiet voice, still a little bit taken aback from discovering that someone else had silver eyes like her and her mother.

"If I was, we wouldn't be having this conversation."

"Other than rudely assaulting us, did you have another reason as to why you're here?" Weiss inquired, maintaining some semblance of control over her emotions.

"I assume you tried asking Cayde to teach you girls just like he did to Summer?" Shin arched a brow as the Schnee heiress pursed her lips in contemplation.

"Yes, he did actually. However, Cayde told us that he was too busy with his duties as the Hunter Vanguard to teach us anything," the white haired girl said. The Exo Hunter also never referred to her by her name, which she found a bit strange. It was almost like he didn't know in spite of her introducing herself to him when the android saved them from that Deathstalker/Vex hybrid.

"But didn't he say there was a Guardian who might be interested in being our mentor?" Ruby clarified as she recalled that bit of information and how excited it made Team RWBY to one day meet this Guardian.

"That too but how does that have anything to do as to why Shin Malphur here attacked us out…of…the…blue…" the partner of the red hooded girl trailed off as she reached an epiphany for the reason of the Gunslinger's presence on Remnant, "Oh."

"You have got to be kidding me," the faunus girl groaned in disbelief as she pinched the bridge of her nose, also reaching the same conclusion as the Schnee heiress.

"What? What is that supposed to me – oh," Yang was about to demand but cut herself off when her mind concluded the same thing as the checkmate pair, "Ah, come on!"

"Huh, what's up with you guys?" Ruby asked in confusion as she still was in the dark about Malphur's true intentions for her and her team, "What's wrong?"

"What's wrong, Ruby, is that this man here is supposed to be your team's personal mentor," Qrow clarified for the young leader of Team RWBY as he continued to sharpen his blade.

Judging by the glares that older girls and the two men threw at Shin Malphur's direction, they didn't like this revelation at all.

"Yup," Malphur nodded, "Cayde offered a pretty hefty price to convince me to come to Remnant and let me tell you, the trip wasn't exactly a luxury class cruise."

"And I almost refused his request once he told me that I was supposed to teach a bunch of hormonal teenagers on how to fight," the Gunslinger confessed as the first year team took offense for the 'hormonal teenagers' comment.

"Then what changed your mind?" Blake inquired as her amber eyes narrowed and her cat ears twitched from under her bow, "If you're here, then that means Cayde-6 was able to persuade you."

Shin rubbed his chin as he pondered over the former White Fang member's logical deduction before he decided to answer, "He told me about the girl with silver eyes who also happened to be Summer Rose's daughter."

"M-me?" Ruby looked lost as she sent helpless glances to the people around her before settling her gaze on Shin, someone who also had silver eyes like her, "Why me?"

"Yeah, why Ruby? Why my sister?" Yang demanded as she stomped forward and slammed her palms on the table, rattling the wooden surface, "What do you want with her!?"

"I don't want anything from her," the Gunslinger smoothly retorted, "Rather, it's the other way around."

"And you were there when little Rose here had her breakdown," he added as he straightened up his posture, clenched his fingers around the bullet he was playing with and lowered his feet to the floor, "You all saw that light show she put out. _All_ _of Remnant_ saw it."

"You know what happened with Ruby," Taiyang said as his features hardened even more, "You know what is going on with my daughter."

"Yeah and so does he," the silver eyed man flicked his gaze towards the scythe-master as Qrow paused in his weapon maintenance, "That's what I'm assuming from your reaction when you saw my eyes."

"Qrow, is this true?" the Xiao Long patriarch turned his head to face his old partner as everyone else focused on the exchange between two former members of Team STRQ.

"Partly," the alcoholic Huntsman admitted with some reluctance, "I don't know the full details but I have an idea of what's up with Ruby."

Putting the whetstone away, Qrow ran a hand through his greying hair, slicking the bangs back. The blade on his signature weapon retracted with a resounding click and he slid the deactivated weapon back into the sheath on the small of his back as his crimson eyes zeroed in on Shin's silver ones.

"Considering how long you Guardians live, I think you know the story behind that better than I do," the Black Reaper stated as he took out his flask.

"I don't have to stress that whatever you hear next stays in this room, do I?" Malphur asked seriously as he closed his eyes, "What I'm about to tell you should _not_ become common knowledge."

"Why? What's so special about having silver eyes?" Weiss demanded as she frowned.

"Because they're a defining trait unique to the Roseus lineage," the Gunslinger told his audience as he opened his eyes to reveal that his irises were glowing slightly, "As you can tell from the similarities in names, the Roseus are Summer and Ruby's ancestors. My ancestors."

"According to Remnant's legends, the Roseus were a long line of warriors gifted with silver eyes and the power to destroy Grimm in a single glance but I'm afraid it's a lot more complicated than that," he narrated before he set his attention on the youngest member of the Roseus, "The Roseus had another name that the people of _Earth_ called them before there were even Ghosts or Guardians."

The members of Team RWBY, their young leader especially, were too afraid to ask but they knew that the silver eyed man would tell them anyway.

"They were also referred to as the Children of the Traveler."

Aaaannndd _there_ was the bombshell that rendered everyone into stunned silence.

"I-isn't the Traveler some kind of _god_?" the Schnee heiress stammered slightly as she tried to regain her composure.

"And isn't it also like the size of a _moon_?" Blake added as her mind raced on how _that_ would work.

"Not in the literal sense," Shin reassured them as he rolled his eyes, "It just means that we received our blessings directly from the Traveler itself and that we have control over its greatest power."

White light leaked through the fingers of his clenched fist, the one holding the bullet. So intense was the light that not even his fingers could fully contain it as the lights pouring out through the gaps of his fingers were too blinding for anyone, Blake especially to stare at the raised hand for too long.

Once it seemed like the light coming from his hands would engulf the entire room, it slowly dimmed down into nothing as Shin spread his fingers open to present what was lying on his palm, shocking his audience to their very core. There was a collection eyes wide open and mouths gaping as they stared at what the oldest member of the Roseus had done.

"Life."

In the palm of his hand was a little seedling but what set this seedling apart from all the other plants was its metallic bronze-like sheen, the same texture as the bullet that was suddenly missing from his hand. It took them a few moments to realize that it was the very same bullet that he was fiddling around with.

That wasn't all. The seedling, slowly but surely, began to grow before their very eyes as more leaves emerged from its stem and a bulb formed at the top. It continued to gradually increase in size until it filled the palm of Shin's hand.

The Gunslinger didn't just change the shape of a bullet into a plant. He converted a completely inanimate object into a fully functioning living and breathing being. A feat that should be impossible by all accounts and yet this man had dashed all those logics and beliefs aside to prove them wrong.

"Holy shit," surprisingly, it was Weiss who murmured this in her shock as her brain had yet to process this unbelievable display. Not even the Schnee family's hereditary semblance could perform anything _close_ to this.

"You know, if I see another crazy shit happen, I might actually consider quitting my drinking habits," Qrow declared mostly to himself but what he said proved how insane the earlier event was if the alcoholic Huntsman really considered going full-on sober.

"If I see another crazy thing, I might actually _start_ drinking more," Tai said in contrary to his partner's statement. He may drink booze from time to time but never to the same extent as the scythe-master, which made him reconsider his life choices.

"Me too," Yang agreed.

"Wait," Blake turned to face her partner, "Are you going to stop drinking like your uncle or are you going to drink more like your dad if you see something like this again?"

"Yes."

"That doesn't answer my question!"

Shin cleared his throat to get their attention again as the newly created bullet plant dispersed into his inventory, "I'm here because I'm the only one that could teach Ruby Rose here how to wield her recently acquired power so not only that she could harness it properly but also so she won't accidently kill herself trying to."

"Or worse, kill _someone_ ," Shin intoned with a sense of finality in his voice before the room erupted into loud proclamation telling him no.

Two people retained their silence as the shouts continued to wash over the room. Shin Malphur was surprisingly stoic, never once faltering in his resolve while young Ruby Rose quietly stared down at her open hands like she had never seen them before. After a few moments, the red hooded girl clenched her hands into fists and raised her head with a determined look in her eyes. Shin witnessed this with a slight upturn of his lips as the girl reminded him so much of her mother.

It was the Gunslinger's last statement that helped Ruby come to a decision. She already killed her mother, Summer Rose by accident before and now, she had the potential to hurt many more people if she couldn't get this weird power of hers under control. She couldn't allow that to happen. She didn't want to accidentally spill more blood with her hands so there was only one thing that she can do to prevent this.

"What do I have to do?" Ruby inquired in a resolute tone, eliciting a proud smirk from the Gunslinger despite the protests of her friends and family.

"I'm so glad you asked but before we start, I just want to know one thing," Malphur said as he gave the younger Roseus a serious look, "You already had the sex talk, right? Because I don't wanna step on that landmine again after that fiasco with your mother, Summer."

00000

"This is Lisa Lavender of the Vale News Network and I'm reporting live at the press conference that was called by none other than Cayde-6 of the Vanguard. In a few short minutes, the android or better yet, the _man_ who brought and led the heroic Guardians to Remnant in our time of need will be coming to give a very special announcement and – wait, there he is now!"

"Yes, in spite of his mechanical nature, Cayde-6 had endeared himself to the people of Vale, becoming something like a celebrity. Just listen to the audience calling out his name."

"Cayde-6! Cayde-6! Cayde-6! Cayde-6! Cayde-6!"

"Yeah, that's my name. Don't wear it out now! But seriously, let's get down to business. I'm sure you people must be wondering why the Councils and I arranged this little get together. Well, let me tell you! It's about the current status of the various combat schools stationed all over Remnant. We all know that they took a hefty amount of damage to their facilities from the Vex and had consequently canceled classes. That leaves the students, the future defenders of this world, Remnant's own Guardians if I may say so myself, nowhere to continue their studies."

"But we had formulated a proper solution for this. The Councils of Remnant had agreed to accept the Guardians' aid and resources in rebuilding the schools so cut down the repair time from six months to a single month. Not only will they receive renovations but also some swanking new upgrades to their facilities to make a better school experience for their students."

"But wait, there's more! Our own version of a combat instructor, Lord Shaxx had volunteered his expertise's on the battlefield to teach the Huntsmen and Huntresses in training. He'll happily provide the students with a Guardian's perspective when it comes to fighting. And we have Warlock Byf to teach the kids about the history of Earth and the alien races that want to vaporize us."

"I know this all may seem sudden but I'd like to inform you that the Vex aren't the only hostile alien race out there. While we're doing our best to prevent more aliens from reaching Remnant, it's better to be safe than sorry so to any students still interested in a career where you're constantly in a life or death struggle, we'll be seeing you next semester!"


	16. The Next Step

AN:

I'm not sure if this is normal but I find that writing comes easier for me when I'm missing sleep. On the other hand, my muse does jackshit when I have a whole night's rest so in order for me to keep writing this story, I became a borderline-insomniac.

Should I be concerned?

00000

Chapter 16

A large black form tore through the trees at a breakneck pace, upsetting the fauna in its passing. Patches of dirt were displaced as its feet kicked off of the ground in a rather hasty rhythm. It even trampled over some bushes and bulldozed through small trees clumped up too close together as heavy animalistic pants emanated from its mouth.

The distinctive white mask and red eyes identified this sprinting form as a creature of the Grimm, a Beowolf to be exact, and the reason it was running through the woods with such desperation in its beastly orbs was not because it spotted a possible prey but because of something… _else_.

A sharp whistling rang out and the creature of Darkness cried out in a pain-filled yelp as one of its hind legs was unceremoniously severed from its body while it was in mid-step. It tumbled over to the earth, body carving a small trench before it skidded to a stop. Even crippled as it was, the lone Beowolf sunk the tips of its claws into the ground and began to drag itself forward in a bid to escape whatever was on its tail as its pitiful whimpers echoed under the night sky.

More of its fellows emerged from the treelines, no doubt attracted to the pained cries of their kin. The badly injured lycanthropic beast whined at the other Grimm as if pleading for help. Its whining was suddenly cut off by another pained cry when a large hook buried into its remaining hind leg.

"Aw, don't run off too soon," a voice, sounding like the creaking of rusty metal, cooed as the chains connecting to the end of the hook went taut, "I still haven't begun the preparations for the procedure yet."

The trapped Beowolf started to franticly claw at the ground, drawing deep grooves even after they had been worn down into just bloody nubs as it was slowly being pulled back against its will, towards the one holding the other end of the chain. The source of the unsettling voice merely cackled sadistically as it mocked the futile struggles of the poor beast.

As for the rest of the Grimm, they ignored the maddened cries of the Beowolf for salvation as red eyes tracked the figure emerging from the shadows.

The figure was male and he wore a long, black overcoat that had clear signs of wear and tear. The coat had three separate coattails that flared out behind him as if alive. Dark green tribal patterns ran around the collar, with a snake's head hanging over the coat's left shoulder, and its tail slinking down the right, all the way to the bottom of the coat. The sleeves were rolled up to the elbows to make way for the smooth metallic gauntlets. Under the coat were a simple rugged vest, trousers and hardened boots that had built-in shin guards.

But what really stood out was the helmet that he wore around his head.

It was as if someone collected various pieces of metal and blowtorched those pieces together haphazardly to shape the approximation of a human skull. Green lenses like that from the scope of a sniper rifle were placed in the eye sockets in place for actual eyes. The mouth of the facemask was wide open in a skeletal grin as black mist leaked from the sides of its mouth, casting the man in a rather awry light.

The man cut a very intimidating figure and anyone looking at him would feel like they were standing in the presence of death. An impression that was only exemplified by how he effortlessly pulled on the other end of the chain with one hand as the snagged Grimm only continued to franticly claw at the ground in a bid to escape from him.

The Beowolf in question was fairly young so it didn't have the same cunning as an Alpha class and yet some primal part of its underdeveloped brain strongly urged this Grimm to get away from the man as quickly as possible. The rest of its brethren felt their instincts telling them to do the same so they retreated back into the foliage, leaving the doomed Beowolf behind.

Heedless of the Beowolf's struggles, he tugged on the chain and sent the Grimm flying towards him. Before the furry body of the beast could collide with him, a series of spiked chains shot out from seemingly nowhere and impaled the creature in the arms and back. The chains went taut, holding the Beowolf aloft like a puppet on strings or a condemned prisoner left to rot on display. As the Beowolf pulled at the chains in vain, the man tore his hook from its leg and placed the sharp point of the hook on the spot where the neck and chest met.

"There, much better," he stated as he pressed the tip of his hook into the Beowolf, drawing a bead of blood from it, "Now, let's take a peek inside you and see what makes you tick."

A loud bang reverberated and several bullets whizzed past the man's cheek before burrowing into the Grimm's chest, killing it instantly. The man let out a low growl to show his irritation as the chains restraining the dissolving corpse retracted back to where they came from.

Spinning on his heel, he drew a submachine gun with his free hand and lined the sights at the one who deprived him of a test subject. Automatic pistol aimed point blank at her face, Dredgen Vena lowered the Necrochasm in its gunblade form, smoke pouring out of the muzzle.

"Dredgen Craneel, this isn't the time or place for your experiments," the Dark Hunter admonished her comrade, "Nor is it wise to show your abilities as a Warlock so blatantly."

"With so many fine specimens here for testing, I just couldn't help myself," the introduced Dredgen Craneel retorted as he raised his hook to give it an idle inspection and lowered his gun, "And you're not one to talk after having fought Summer Rose. I hear that the forests in Patch are in need of a serious replanting."

"Which I have already paid for," she reminded him, rolling her eyes from under her helmet, "And our dear 'host' is not going to take you dissecting her pets kindly. Not without her explicit permission at least."

"You needn't be concerned, Vena," Craneel drawled as he twirled the hook by its chain, "I can be very _persuasive_."

"Right," Vena deadpanned, not believing the Dark Warlock's claim, "We're fortunate that Lord Saladin had other important matters to attend to. Otherwise, I wouldn't have been able to smuggle you to Remnant."

"Indeed," the Dark Warlock agreed as he returned the submachine gun into its holster located under his coat.

"Although, whatever alarmed the last Iron Lord must not be beneficial to the City," she added as she sheathed the Nechochasm onto her back.

"Inconsequential," Craneel dismissed with a wave of his hand, "That is no longer our concern while we're here on Remnant. We have our own objective."

"The Grimm Queen."

"Yes, I hope that you didn't bring any permanent harm upon the prime specimen," he eyed the Dark Hunter meaningfully, "It could lead to compromised results if the subject had been damaged too much."

"Don't worry. Any injuries that I inflicted upon it in our initial confrontation has already been healed," she assured him as they began to walk alongside each other, "And there is always the research that Dr. Merlot had already supplied us with."

"Yes, there is that. I do however like to keep my options for research open. Different methods would produce varying results after all," Craneel said as the two members of the Shadows of Yor vanished into black vapors.

00000

Most of Team RWBY's thoughts were in disarray. Weiss Schnee was on her scroll, looking up any significant information pertaining to the silver eyed warriors that her partner happened to have descended from but she was disappointed from how little there were. Blake Belladonna had her nose buried in a book as per the norm but she could not bring herself to focus on the words before as her thoughts drifted away to her red hooded leader. Yang Xiao Long was outside, taking out her frustrations on anything that could be used as a makeshift punching bag be they trees, rocks or an unfortunate pack of Grimm that strayed too close to her while imagining that whatever she was beating in was the Gunslinger's face.

It had only been less than a month before their entire world view was turned upside down with the alien invasion and the return of Summer Rose. Then a few hours prior, a man by the name of Shin Malphur told them that their young leader, Ruby Rose possessed an extremely rare power straight out of a fairytale, which was given to her and her ancestors by a _god_ of all things.

It made them wonder if any of the other fairytales weren't as fictional as they were led to believe. Weiss was normally a skeptical person whenever there no concrete evidence involved but considering what they had seen of what the Guardians were capable of so far, the story of the Four Maidens didn't sound as fantastical as before. To be honest, magical powers over nature without the use of Dust sounded more believable than immortal warriors that could resurrect themselves from the dead.

There was very little information regarding the silver-eyed warriors, or the Roseus as they were called on Earth and as for what was known did not help paint a more detailed picture of what the Roseus could do. The only reliable source of information would have been the Grimoire, the accumulated knowledge and history of the Guardians but it still wasn't accessible yet to the people of Remnant.

Even if it was, Shin Malphur said that the origins of the Roseus was one of the most guarded secrets of the Vanguard so those with the appropriate clearance level or Risen old enough to remember the stories were the only ones in the know. They were lucky that the Gunslinger deigned to tell it them albeit a fraction of it.

As loathed as she was to admit it, Shin Malphur's claims to be a distant relative of Ruby were starting to hold some weight. The Schnee heiress attempted to trace back Ruby's family tree only to find it so disappointingly lacking and when she tried to cross-reference other people with silver eyes, the records appeared that it only went as far back as Summer Rose, who was stated to have been an orphan.

Shin Malphur obviously wasn't directly relative to the Rose family since he had allegedly lived for many years before either mother or daughter was even _born_ but his sharp features, red-tipped brown hair and silver eyes could allow him to pass off as a cousin or an uncle. Then there were the otherworldly powers that Ruby's family had.

Frankly, what Malphur demonstrated with his power of the Roseus made the Schnee's trademark semblance appear like mere parlor tricks in comparison. It made the Schnee heiress feel just a tad inadequate after witnessing his unbelievable power.

Weiss was brought out of her ruminations when she heard a loud sound coming from the side. She tore her gaze from her scroll to see that Blake had slammed her book shut as the former White Fang member's frown deepened.

"I still don't trust him," the faunus girl said, not needing to clarify who she was talking about to the white-haired girl.

"That goes without saying," Weiss concurred as she opened a new tab on the scroll's search engine that spoke of the various changes being implemented by the Councils and the Vanguard, "But try telling Ruby that. Just because this Malphur character is her relative, she suddenly thinks he's trustworthy."

Shin Malphur held no qualms at being rough when he was 'assessing' Team RWBY. He was completely unrepentant even after being subjected to the disdain of two highly skilled Huntsmen and he just took the not so subtle threats in stride as if nothing would come off it. Not only did the Gunslinger give off an almost arrogant disposition but he was also kind of a jerk.

"Or maybe she just likes to see the best in everyone," Blake sighed as she set her book to the side. She figured that she couldn't enjoy the latest book in the 'Howling At the Moon' series while thinking about the recent revelations.

"That's our fearless leader for you," Weiss rolled her eyes in exasperation and yet her tone held a bit of fondness in it, "Is Yang still not taking it well?"

"You know Yang. She likes to hold on to grudges especially when they're personal," Blake said before her eyes caught something on the bedside table.

"I know she has a justified reason for disliking Malphur. God knows we all do. But she always has to resort to violence like some kind of brute."

"Huh, I don't remember this being here before," the cat faunus girl murmured to herself as she picked up a book from the bedside table and recited its title, "The Art of War by Sun Tzu?"

The book had a hardbound cover that had clear signs of age and it appeared to have been read a lot judging by how worn the pages were. Despite it being through a lot, the book was still well-maintained like its owner took great care of it and regularly had a booksmith look over its condition.

Intrigued, Blake opened it and noticed a slip of paper fall out. Before it could fall to the floor, she snatched the piece of paper out of the air. She flipped it over and saw that it was a note.

On the note were the words, "Read this. Maybe you'll learn something useful – S.M."

"Is that a new book, Blake? I don't recall seeing that one before," Weiss said as she sidled up next to her to examine the book before seeing the note in the cat girl's hand, "S.M.? I wonder who that can be?"

"Wait, S.M.?" the Schnee heiress and the former White Fang member chorused as they turned to look at each other, "Shin Malphur!"

"He gave you a book? That's…awfully nice of him," Weiss noted in slight confusion, still not sure what to make of it, "If you disregard him breaking and entering our room, that is."

"I don't think it's for me specifically. It says to read this but it didn't exactly say _who_ should read it."

"At least he's putting some effort into teaching us," the white haired girl scoffed, "Might as well see what's so great about this book that he recommended it to us."

00000

"So what are you going to teach me?" Ruby was practically bouncing on her heels as she stared up at the Gunslinger with an eager look in her big silver eyes, "Are you going to teach me how to shoot out lightning? Or throw fireballs? Or, or, or maybe how to-"

"Jump," Shin said bluntly, throwing her through a loop.

"Eh?"

"I'm going to teach you how to jump," he continued like it was the most obvious thing in the world, which it honestly was.

"But…I already know how to jump," the red hooded girl blinked, "Everyone knows how to jump. It's not really something special."

"Yeah but from what I've seen, you suck at it," he groused as he started to pace around her, "You always relied on the kickback of your gun just to give yourself a boost. Frankly, it's a waste of bullets when you're moving around like that. Those bullets are better off spent on your enemies rather than a quick getaway."

"How else am I gonna move around quickly?"

"Isn't your semblance, the manifestation of your very soul I may add, based on _speed_?"

"It's not like I can use it easily," she pouted, crossing her arms over her chest, "I still haven't gotten the hang of it yet."

"Which is why you have to learn how to better control your aura before we get to the cool stuff so I'm gonna teach you something that should help with your aura control."

"How? By jumping?"

Instead of answering, Malphur merely hopped off the ground. It didn't take him particularly high, maybe like a feet or two up but what it really amazed Ruby was how he simply remained standing in midair like he was on solid ground.

The youngest Roseus then remembered in the battle between Team RWBY and Shin Malphur that the latter was able to reorient himself with that very same trick after having been thrown by Weiss' semblance.

"Guardians, Hunters in particular, can gather their Light at the soles of their feet to create a temporary platform that could be used as a springboard, essentially performing a double jump like in those video games," he gave his lecture as he dropped back to the ground, "What I'm doing is an advanced form of the Air Jump technique, which is called Air-walking."

"That is so _cool_!"

"I know," the Gunslinger grinned in apparent pride, "Now give it a shot."

"Without your scythe," he reminded as Ruby was about to leap up with Crescent Rose in hand, "You'll be better motivated if you don't have a safety net to catch you."

"Aaww," she whined as she tentatively set her weapon down before she began to jump up and down in the vain hope that she would get it right away.

"We have about a month before your classes start again so we're gonna spend that time wisely."

00000

Next chapter would be the obligatory training arc in anime and then the first day of class.


	17. Let's Get Down to Business!

AN:

With the poll closed, it had been unanimously decided that I should start a forum for the Remnant of a Rose series, which I have already did. The forum is called Remnant of a Rose and I'll just leave it up to the fans to fill out the topics and whatnot since I'm most likely not going to be posting there very often.

00000

Chapter 17

"Alright, ladies. I have one question for you," Shin Malphur said as he paced in front of the lined up members of Team RWBY, "What is the greatest disadvantage that one could have in a fight?"

"Ruby," he pointed to the young leader of the first year team.

"Um, not enough training?" she guessed as she scratched the back of her head in a very familiar habit that he had seen before.

"Why's that?"

"Our teachers back in Beacon always tell us to train more every time we don't do well in combat class," the red hooded girl explained her reasoning, "So I thought maybe that's what you're talking about."

"That's part of the answer but not the one I'm looking for," the Gunslinger told her, causing her to deflate, "Schnee, what do you think?"

"Not enough knowledge," Weiss Schnee answered as she stood at attention.

"Your reasoning?"

"From what Blake and I read of that book you gave us, it emphasizes the importance of knowing of your own capabilities as well as your opponent's," the Schnee heiress said, "And that if you do, the battle has already been won."

"That's a good one. Can I assume that is also Belladonna's answer?" Shin inquired as he glanced at the faunus girl.

"Whoever this Sun Tzu is, the man certainly knew what he was talking about," Blake admitted, having read "The Art of War" several times by now.

The black and white duo may not trust or like Shin Malphur but the girls could definitely agree that the book he gave them was quite educational. In fact, they probably learned more about strategies and combat from reading the book over and over again than the time they spent in Beacon Academy.

The professors at Beacon were skilled Huntsman and Huntresses in their own right but not all of them were necessarily good at getting the lesson across.

Professor Oobleck spoke at a rapid pace, which made listening to his lectures much more difficult than it had to be. Professor Port can drone on and on about his adventures as a Huntsman in a very exaggerated manner and it was an exercise in futility to stay awake in his class. The only good ones were Professor Peach and Professor Goodwitch but the former was around very often since the wayward teacher was off to do whatever she did while not at Beacon.

The Art of War really helped Blake and Weiss in their knowledge even though they had to apply it in real life. Unfortunately, Ruby and Yang were not so interested in reading an educational book like that and they would rather use it to do something childish and ridiculous like build a small fort made out of books.

Although, it was needless to say but all of Team RWBY were quite excited for the reopening of the combat schools since they would have additional Guardian-based curriculum.

"It's close but not the one I'm looking for," Malphur shook his head before casting his gaze on the yellow garbed member of Team RWBY, "How about you? Any contributions you might wanna add, Xiao Long?"

Yang crossed her arms and petulantly glared to the side, pointedly not meeting his eyes in her own way of rebelling against his authority as she kept quiet.

"Acting like a spoiled brat is obviously a major disadvantage," he said, taking her behavior as her answer, "As big as that problem is, it's not what I'm looking for."

"Then what is it?" Ruby asked as she and her teammates were getting a little impatient at the point that Shin was trying to make.

"The biggest disadvantage is to be predictable," he told them as the girls looked at him in both intrigue and confusion. Yang even set aside her petty grudge against Shin to follow in her teammates' stead.

"Huh?" Team RWBY chorused as they tilted their head in unison.

"You heard me. Being predictable is the greatest disadvantage that anyone could have," he said as he took out a strange looking coin and showed it to them, "If you know the outcome of a coin toss is heads, you're obviously going to pick heads. Or when you're playing against someone that always picks rock in rock-paper-scissors, you throw out paper to counter them."

"If the enemy knows what you're going to do and can react accordingly, the only way you can beat them is to catch them by surprise," the Gunslinger continued as he noticed the girls donning looks of understanding, "Which is why things like experience, training and knowledge can play a part in pulling one over the enemy or vice versa."

Shin Malphur had a point.

Facing someone you know meant that you were familiar with their fighting styles so you would have devised a way to counter it or adapted your own fighting style and conditioning to better react to their moveset. If you were already aware what a combatant was capable of and could deal with their tactics in a simple manner, then you could bring the battle to a quick and decisive end.

On the other hand, facing a complete unknown left you constantly guessing at the opposition could do and could lead to panicking, which was never beneficial for anyone under any situation. It was also the reason why most of Remnant were running around like headless chickens when the Vex invasion began in earnest. That was until Guardian Summer Rose provided crucial intel on how to deal with the Vex and subsequently made battling the aliens much easier than before.

As the popular saying went, better the devil you knew than the devil you didn't.

"Right now, you girls have a lot bad habits that make you more predictable so we're gonna work on them first."

00000

 _Red_

Ruby leapt high into air as a swirl of rose petals trailed after her from her cape. Once she reached the peak of her jump, she kicked her legs one more time as rose petals surrounded her form. Her silver eyes widened in alarm when she realized that she failed to accomplish the Air-jump once again. She flailed her arms wildly and kept kicking her legs out as she attempted to regain her orientation.

The young leader of Team RWBY fell back to the ground hard as her face became acquainted with the earth. Pushing herself back up, she spat out the dirt that inadvertently went into her mouth. She held her tongue out in hope of getting rid of the earthy taste on it as she brushed down her dirt stained outfit.

"This is getting nowhere," Shin sighed after having watched Ruby failed the Air-jump for the umpteenth time, "I have a feeling that you just weren't paying attention when I explained it to you."

"I _was_ paying attention!" she protested with a pout, "I tried doing what you told me to do by channeling my aura through my feet but it's keep coming out wrong."

"It's because you keep activating your semblance instead of channeling it properly," he said as he poked her forehead with his index and middle finger, "And don't tell me that's the only way to channel your aura. I know for a fact that Remnant has other methods to that besides using their semblance."

"If you need pointers on how to channel your aura in different ways, ask for pointers from your uncle or heck, even your teammate, Belladonna," he advised as he crossed his arms, "Until you learn to better control your aura, it's too dangerous for you to try out any of the more advanced techniques."

Whimpering like a sad puppy, Ruby looked up at him with wide teary eyes as her lower lip started to quiver slightly. Unfortunately for Shin Malphur, he made the fatal error of looking directly into the younger girl's eyes so he was hit with full brunt of her puppy dog eyes.

His left eye twitched violently and his hands clenched into fists so hard that audible cracks could be heard. Although, one may argue that those cracking sounds were not coming from his hands at all. After a few moments, he was able to regain his composure and swore to himself to never be taken off guard like that ever again.

"Think of yourself like a gun," he began, eliciting the young weapon nut's interest, "The frame of the gun is your body while the magazine is your soul."

"The magazine could only hold so many bullets and only certain calibers could be fired through the muzzle. If pushed too hard, the gun will jam or worse, blow itself up. I'm sure you're already aware of the inner mechanisms of a gun so you should what starts the whole process of firing the bullet."

"You have to pull the lever back and squeeze the trigger," Ruby muttered as her eyes lit up in realization.

She crouched down with the fingertips of one hand touching the ground before she shot up into the air. Closing her eyes, she visualized her beloved weapon, Crescent Rose. In her mind, she went through the motions of pulling the bolt back, straightening her sights and then squeezing the trigger.

Rinse, rather, repeat.

As the mindset of a trained marksman settled inside her head, the red reaper kicked her legs down once more. Unlike all the other times she tried to jump in midair, she actually felt a bit of resistance on the soles of her boots as she was flung upward even more.

Silver eyes snapped open as Ruby let out a loud cheer, "Woohoo! I did it!"

Unfortunately for her, expressing jubilation at her success ended whatever spell that allowed her to Air-jump as gravity took a hold of her and brought her crashing back to the earth. Shin whipped his arm forward and snatched the girl by the scruff of her blouse before she made another painful crash landing.

"Good, you managed to do your first Air-jump," the Gunslinger smiled proudly as Ruby gave him one of her own. The girl's smile immediately faded when he let go of her blouse, making her fall face first to the ground.

"Now keep doing it until it's second nature."

00000

 _White_

"So what lesson did you wish to impa-"

"Shush," Shin Malphur interrupted her as he held a single finger before his lips.

"Excuse me!" Weiss exclaimed in outrage from such blatant disrespect, "Did you just-"

"Shush!"

"I will not stand for th-"

"Nope, keep quiet and sit down," he ordered as he spun her around and directed her to sit down on a nearby tree stump, "I don't want to hear a single word from you."

"But I-"

"Bzzzt!" he snapped as he pressed the palm of his hand on her mouth, silencing her, "Don't use your mouth _at all_."

"Have you ever meditated before?" Shin inquired. He then raised a hand to stop her from speaking, "Rhetorical question, don't answer. I can tell that you haven't."

"Or at least, you never realized you were meditating," he added as one of his custom dirks slipped into his hands. He casually swept his arm to the side, cutting a tree down in one clean stroke. Unamused, the Schnee heiress arched a brow as the trunk and the branches crashed down, leaving a tree stump of his own to sit on.

The blade of the dirk retracted into the hilt and Shin slipped it back to the arm harness that was hidden under the forearm wrappings as he sat cross leg on the tree stump that he made.

"A lot of people has the idea that meditating to clear your mind of all thoughts. To think of nothing. Common misconception really," he began, "It's impossible to think of nothing since your mind will always find something to latch on to. Meditation is to remove all _distractions_ that keep you from your main thought."

"Meditation is wash yourself away from your fears and doubts. To open your awareness and allow you to see other avenues that you never thought of before," he continued as the white haired girl stared at him with rapt attention, "Like when studying for a test, don't think of the repercussions of failing or acing it and just simply let the needed information smoothly flow into your brain."

"Now close your eyes and listen to the sound of my voice," Shin said as she started to do as instructed, "Breathe in, breathe out. Think about the place where you feel the most at home and imagine yourself there. Surround yourself with its warmth."

Home. Such a simple word and yet it held great meaning to whoever it applied to.

Weiss first thought was the Schnee estate back at Atlas and yet that place didn't really struck out as 'warm' to her what with the oppressive sensation of the Schnee's tarnished reputation hanging in every room of the estate. The people that resided there alongside her didn't lessen that feeling with her father's constant disapproval, her brother's obvious disdain to those he considered his inferior, her mother always drowning herself in alcohol. The only exceptions would be her butler, Klaus and her older sister, Winter but the former was merely a servant who couldn't always be there while the latter was frequently away on Atlas military matters.

No, the Schnee estate did not feel like home to the middle child of the Schnee family. To her, the place where she was at ease and felt _warm_ was-

"Beacon," Weiss muttered under her breath as she came to an epiphany.

Beacon academy was where she felt that 'warmth' and was where she was at her most comfortable. It was at that school where the exterior of the Ice Queen melted before only a few select individuals. It was where she met her teammates in Team RWBY.

"Don't conceal, _feel_ ," she could hear Malphur's voice say to her as the words somehow resonated something within her, "Let it go."

Unbeknownst to her, a glyph with swords positioned in a cross-like pattern formed behind Weiss and began to spin in a steady pace, in time with the Schnee heiress' breathing. The Gunslinger grinned as he witnessed a helmet of a giant suit of armor emerge from the glyph. Out next was the armored greave as it stepped into the clearing, snapping a twig under the sole of its boot. The sudden sound snapped Weiss out of her concentration with a sharp gasp as the Giant Armor and the glyph dissolved into tiny little white particles.

"You almost had it there," Shin said as he pushed himself up, approached her and placed a hand on her shoulder, "Keep practicing but don't rush it. You not gonna get anything done if you do."

With his piece said, the Gunslinger removed his hand from her shoulder and started to walk away. Once she got this step done, Weiss would be ready for the next one.

"Really, Shin?" his Ghost, Clint drawled dryly, " _Frozen_."

"Shut up, it worked, didn't it?" he retorted before snorting, "Besides, it's not like she'll ever find out I got that line from a kid's movie."

00000

 _Months later_

 _~Let it go! Let it go! Can't hold it back anymore!~_

"Hey, wait a minute!"

00000

 _Black_

"You're a coward," Shin said as he looked at his other student with an unimpressed expression.

"That's a little rude, don't you think?" Blake replied, more than a little bit insulted by the man's disingenuous assertions, "Calling someone you barely know a coward right to their face."

"I don't have to personally know you. Your semblance tells all I needed to know to make that assumption," the Gunslinger shrugged, not really caring about her feelings, "You run away while leaving a copy behind to take the hit for you."

That struck a chord within the former White Fang member. Those were almost the exact words that she said to her teammates back when they were gathered around the campfire after having been interviewed by Professor Oobleck of their goals and motivations as Huntresses.

So had happaned after that conversation that it felt like almost a lifetime ago but the wounds of her doubts were still quite fresh to this very day. Shin Malphur merely applied salt to them.

"Retreating to fight another day is not really bad per se but eventually, you're gonna run out of places to run to," the Gunslinger continued, showing no reaction to the obvious inner-turmoil that was expressed on Blake's face, "So I'm gonna teach you to face your problems head-on."

"How? With a metaphor?" the cat faunus challenged after having regained her composure.

"Something like that," he answered vaguely as her cat ears picked up a loud click below her.

Tilting her head down, Blake widened her amber eyes as she saw that a chain was wrapped around her waist and linked back to the man's hand.

"You put me on a leash!?" she screeched in utter outrage as she glared bloody murder at the Gunslinger who simply smirked back.

This, this _bastard_ just put a leash on her like she was some kind of animal that he didn't want to run off on their own. A domesticated animal at that! Why she ought to tear this smarmy son of a bitch a new o-

Shin pulled on the other end of the chain as the door to a rather large cage (that Blake could have sworn wasn't there before) opened up and the biggest Beowolf that she had ever seen crawled out into the open, causing the Huntress in training to still. To her incredulity, the chain wrapped around her waist linked back to the collar around the Grimm's neck. Blake slowly reached for Gambol Shroud only for her hand to grasp onto nothing as the familiar weight of her personal weapon was missing from her back.

"Looking for this," Malphur called out.

She turned to see him holding her precious weapon in his hand as the other one held the chain that connected the faunus and the Grimm to one another. The blood drained from her face as she realized that not only was she chained to a Beowolf, an Alpha bordering on Elder class one at that, but she was also bereft of her weapon.

"I can't have you ending the session too early," Shin wagged his finger as if he was scolding a small child instead of a Huntress in training who was currently tied to a dangerous beast.

"How is this supposed to teach me anything!?" Blake shouted before she quickly flipped back to dodge the initial swipe of the Beowolf.

"To teach you that no matter how far you run away, your problems always manage to catch up to you," he said in a serious tone as she evaded another attack from the Grimm only for the chain to get tangled around a tree, bringing her dangerously close to the creature's striking range.

"Now have fun!" he smiled cheerfully before his form dispersed into smoke, having teleported away.

That son of a bitch!

00000

 _Yellow_

Shin weaved around another flurry of blows from the irate Yang Xiao Long with the barest of efforts before he hooked his leg around his attacker's ankles, sweeping her legs out from under her while giving a slight push on her back to cause her to tumble forward.

As she fell, the Gunslinger caught her by wrapping his forearm around her neck and applied the exact amount of pressure to cut off her airways without breaking the spinal cord. Eyes rolling to the back of her head, the blonde brawler desperately gasped for her air as her hands clawed at the limb currently choking her. As she was on the verge of passing out, Shin released his hold on her. She fell to her hands and knees as she took in deep mouthfuls of the sweet oxygen that she craved so much.

"You know, I'm starting to think you enjoy getting choked like that," the eldest Roseus remarked as Yang glared at him with searing red eyes, "Because if you are, I don't think I can train you. I'm _not_ into that kind of kinky shit. Especially since you're only seventeen."

"Not only will people think I'm a sadist but also a pedophile," he said as she pushed herself back to her feet, "And there's Summer to think about too. She'll _kill_ me if she thought I was making a move on her daughter."

"Yeah, that would definitely suck for someone who can just recover from getting killed," Yang's tone was practically _oozing_ with sarcasm.

"Even though I can take the hit, it doesn't mean I should," he countered, "And I have a perfect record of _not dying_ and I don't want your mother to tarnish that, thank you very much."

"Wait, you never died?" the blonde girl asked, actually curious.

"Not even once," he confirmed proudly.

The wielder of the Last Word didn't really know himself but he had been told by his many Guardian acquaintances that dying was not a very pleasant experience to go through. They would then remark on how lucky he was to never experience it himself and that they were a bit jealous of his survival streak.

Conversations like those really discouraged Risen like Shin to not off themselves just for the hell of it.

"But what about when your Ghost found you and turned you into a Guardian?"

"Another quirk of the Roseus, I guess. I didn't actually had to die to receive the Traveler's blessing since I already had one. I'm not sure about Summer but your sister might be able to become a Guardian without having to die."

"…I'm actually a bit conflicted about. On one hand, I'm glad Ruby doesn't have to die to become a Guardian like mom but on the other hand, I kinda have some bad feelings on letting my baby sister become a Guardian like mom."

"Well, it doesn't really matter how you feel about it. It all comes down on whether or not your sister _wants_ to be a Guardian."

"I know…" the little yellow dragon sighed wistfully.

"She may act childish but she has a lot of Summer in her. I may have known Ruby for like a week but I can tell that much."

"I know."

"Soon enough, she's gonna be able to stand on her own two feet. You don't have to keep treating her like she needs to hold your hand all the time."

"I know!" Yang snapped as her long flowing locks ignited, scorching the ground beneath her feet. Shin Malphur simply stared at her, face unreadable.

"I know. So much has happened and it's forcing everyone to get in with the times," she calmed down as she looked sadly down at her hands, staring at the digits like she didn't recognize them anymore, "She's growing up so fast that I can't keep up. Not anymore."

"Tough luck, missy," Shin said bluntly.

"You know, you can at least be a little more sympathetic here," Yang grumbled as she lowered her hands, "I'm pouring my heart out here while you're just being a jerk."

"I'm not exactly the guy who gives their shoulder for people to cry on," he shrugged as she had to concede to that, "I'm the guy that tells you to get your act together so listen up."

"Nothing lasts forever. Things don't always stay the same, not even for Guardians so we don't try to keep it the same," Shin told the blonde brawler, "You can rage all you want but it's not going make everything stay exactly the way they were. I learned that lesson the hard way and I hoped you don't either."

"So do you want another go at trying to punch my teeth in?" he concluded as he gestured to his pearly whites and flashed a smug grin at her.

"…are you gonna put me in another chokehold if I do?"

"Heh, you know it!"


	18. Let's Get Down to the Other Business!

AN:

Time to show that Team RWBY aren't the only relevant characters.

00000

Chapter 18

Taiyang Xiao Long gulped audibly as he fidgeted in apparent nervousness. In spite of his unease, his feet dutifully carried him to his destination as he trudged through the semi-familiar halls of Beacon academy. His palms were sweating profusely through his fingerless gloves, basically drenching them in his bodily fluids. His heart pounded against his toned chest in a rather alarming pace that if it was happening to a normal person, they would have suffered cardiac arrest by now.

While the father of Ruby and Yang would have preferred a heart attack than to undergo his self-appointed mission, he knew that it had to be done. If he wanted to at least have a semblance of a stable life, this was something that he to get over with.

Taiyang must make peace with Cayde-6 of the Vanguard, the person that Summer Rose considered to be her surrogate father.

The former leader of Team STRQ never explicitly said that she saw the Hunter Vanguard as a father figure but Tai could read in between the lines since she always held a certain fondness in her voice whenever she spoke of her mentor. He could recognize it because it was the same tone that she used whenever she talked about her family members so he also knew that her teammates in Fireteam Nero and Shiro-4 were like family to her as well.

And two of Summer's extended family had already attempted to kill him on multiple occasions. It was only because of the White Rose's presence that they stopped as she remained oblivious to the thinly veiled hostilities between her fireteam and her former lover.

Tai finally made it to his destination as he stopped in front of the door with the sigil of the Vanguard emblazoned on its surface. He slowly raised his hand and tentatively knocked on the door, the knocks sounding akin to death knells.

At the last knock, the door swung open on its own accord to reveal that the lights were off in the room, the only form of illumination being the light coming from the door and a lone window. In the middle of the room, the Huntsman could make out the outline of a desk and chair.

"Mr. Xiao Long," Tai heard a male and distinctly mechanical voice call out his name.

The chair let out an ominous creak as it slowly spun to reveal the Exo Hunter that sat on it. Light blue optics staring at the blond man with unerring focus, the Hunter Vanguard rested his elbows on the desk as he steepled his fingers, cutting quite the imposing figure even though he was still sitting down.

"To what do I owe the pleasure?" Cayde-6 smoothly inquired as if the Xiao Long patriarch was an old acquaintance coming to visit.

To anyone that knew him, they would have found Cayde's behavior to be severely disturbing and it would have tripped more than a few alarm bells. Any sensible person would have chosen this moment to turn tail and flee while they still could but Taiyang poorly chose to enter the room proper as the door closed behind him on its own accord, leaving him inside with the Hunter Vanguard in a poorly lit area.

Times like these really made Tai wish that he was a faunus. Night vision would have been extremely useful to have right about now.

"I just want to talk," he said as he raised his hands placatingly before squinting his eyes, "Where is the light switch here? And why is it so dark in here? It's like the middle of the day. The sun should still be out."

Unbeknownst to the teach of Signal Academy, the reason that this office was not in use was because of its poor placement that prevented natural light from coming in. Not only that but the ventilation was quite crappy, which made the room very stuffy basically all of the time and the faulty air conditioner had yet to be replaced. In conclusion, it was a room that no professor in Beacon wanted to claim for themselves.

Of course, none of that actually mattered to an Exo so he really had no complaints. In fact, picking this room as his office was a blessing in disguise since a lot of people didn't tend to stay very long so there were usually no random stranger loitering in front of his desk just to stare at him. He already had enough of that back in the Tower.

By the Traveler, Cayde could have sworn people did that with the sole intent to annoy him.

"You just want to talk, huh?" the Exo pushed his chair back and stood up, easily navigating through the poorly lit room before flipping a light switch to open the lights. Tai's vision blurred as his eyes readjusted to the sudden change in illumination.

"Now what do you want to talk about?" he stepped around the desk and leaned back on it.

"I just want to say," Taiyang breathed deeply to gather his nerves before saying, "Thank you."

"W-hat?" the Guardian stammered as he stumbled from the desk. It was only thanks to his superb reaction time that he was able to plant a hand on the desk to steady himself before he could fall to the floor.

"For what?" he choked, still off balance that the man he wanted to maim and/or kill was thanking him.

"Where do I start?" the Huntsman scratched his cheek as he began to recite, "Thank you for saving Remnant, rescuing my daughters and most importantly, being a decent father to Summer."

The first two weren't that big of a deal since Cayde had rescued plenty of people's daughters over the years and the planet was par for course with his occupation as a Guardian. What really threw the Hunter Vanguard through a loop was the fact that Taiyang Xiao Long was thanking him for being a father to Summer Rose!

"Summer was an orphan who grew up outside of the kingdoms," Tai explained, having realized that Cayde was very shocked at he said, "She never really had anyone to give her parental guidance. And from the way she talked about you, I know you're pretty much the closest thing to a father that she ever had in either lives. For that, I want to thank you on her behalf."

The Hunter Vanguard stared at him with optics wide and jaw slack as his super computer-like mind processed the man's words with pinpoint precision.

The Xiao Long patriarch wasn't wrong per se about the relationship between Cayde-6 and Summer Rose since neither Cayde or Summer said that they saw each other as family. It was one of those bonds that didn't really require to be spoken as to confirm their existence.

Cayde was more than surprised that not only did Taiyang deduced their father-daughter relationship but he was also _thanking him for it_!

"Damn it, why do you have to be a keeper?" Cayde groaned as he slumped down dejectedly, "Now, I'm going to feel bad if I try to castrate you!"

"…I would be lying if I said I wouldn't do the same thing to any creep that tries to approach my girls so I see where you're coming," Tai admitted after taking a few moments to process the impromptu confession, "Although, if it makes you feel better, I can let you take a swing at me."

"…are you sure that's what you want?"

"It's alright. I can take whatever you can dish ou-"

The elder yellow dragon was abruptly interrupted when an Arc-imbued fist suddenly smashed into his cheekbone, sending him crashing into and _through_ a wall right next to the window. The former member of Team STRQ continued his impromptu flight until he was just a twinkle in the sky.

Having crossed the distance between them within fraction of a second, Cayde pulled his outstretched arm back and inspected his hand. The hand that he used to punch the Huntsman had been reduced to a mangled piece of machinery as the scrapped metal that was his hand twitched erratically and released some sparks from loose wiring.

"This'll teach me not to try to replicate a Titan's Fist of Havoc. Not without proper protection at least," the Hunter Vanguard mused as his shredded glove dematerialized, "It was still worth it though."

It was a good thing that he always kept a spare.

Cayde-6 gripped his arm a little below the wrist with his still intact hand and twisted, eliciting a resounding click as he detached his destroyed hand. He tossed the wrecked appendage onto his desk as his Ghost materialized a spare hand that he wasted no time in installing. He then did a few experimental twists to see if it had the suitable amount of coordination. It didn't at first but after running through several diagnostics with his Ghost, his restored hand was back to optimal condition.

Of course, Cayde's Light and self-repair systems could have fixed the disabled hand but that would take hours to do so. He figured that it would be faster just to replace the whole dang thing entirely.

The repair time could have also been shortened by simply killing himself and reviving but he already went through plenty of that due to Lux Sylphid.

Now, what was Cayde doing before receiving the alert that told him Taiyang Xiao Long was coming? Oh yeah, some bigwig CEO of the Schnee Dust Corporation had invited the Hunter Vanguard to some fancy smancy ball or whatnot. No doubt, the guy was just trying to curry favors from Cayde so his company could get Last City tech.

Too bad for Jacques Schnee that Cayde couldn't care less about the SDC since a dust refinery company didn't really have anything that they could offer to someone like him. It was bad enough that the company kept trying to pilfer Vex tech from under the Vanguard's nose (it was a hundred years too early for the SDC to be able to outmaneuver the Hidden in espionage).

But if the Schnee family continued to pester the Vanguard on making some kind of deal with them, Cayde would be very tempted to send Shaxx their way just to see what would happen.

It may be classified as a cruel and unusual punishment but from what dirt that the Hidden managed to dig up on the SDC, Jacques Schnee had it coming.

00000

Taiyang's impromptu flight was brought to a sudden end as he smacked face first into the windshield of a passing jumpship. The side of his face smooshed against the trauma-resistant glass as his limbs were splayed out like a bug on a windshield. Through the tinted glass, the Huntsman could barely make out the wide-eyed expression of the Guardian piloting the ship. Guardian also just so happened to be someone he recognized.

"Shummer!?" the blond man let out a slightly muffled yell as his body was assaulted by the buffeting winds.

"Tai!?" Summer Rose, the former leader of Team STRQ stared incredulously at the father of Ruby and Yang as her Ghost activated the jumpship's external speakers so that the man outside could hear her, "What the heck happened to you!?"

"It's...complicated!" Tai yelled back.

"Would you say that the story behind this is _Xiao Long_ ," the young Hunter couldn't help but quip in spite of the absurdity of this situation.

"Hah, good one!" he laughed before remembering his current predicament, "Would you mind letting me in? This isn't what I would call a luxury cruise."

"Oh. _Oh_! Right, sorry!" Summer soon realized this too and he was then quickly teleported inside the ship.

"There, much better now," she said as his form materialized in the second seat that she had installed recently.

"Yeah, I'll say," Tai dusted himself off before giving the Guardian a grin, "My teachers keep telling me that I always had my head in the _clouds_ but that was just ridiculous."

Summer giggled at the man's joke before replying, "It's fine as long as you don't _jumpship_."

"Ugh, was that joke made out of paper?"

"Because it was _tear-able_!" the bad comedy duo exclaimed in unison before they broke down into a fit of laughter.

Meanwhile, a certain Ghost dreaded at the fact that these two idiots would exchange terrible jokes for hours to come since they were on a roll.

"By the Traveler, please kill me now," Drei lamented as he considered initiating the ship's self-destruct sequence.

00000

The first thing that Prometheus-23 heard when he entered the room was the constant clanging of metal hitting metal. He was then subjected to the sweltering heat that would have reduced any normal person a charred heap. Because of his mastery of the Sunbreaker subclass, the Exo Titan barely noticed it as he walked through it like it was nothing; only stopping when he came upon the source of all this intense heat.

The source was Lord Shaxx who was shrouded in solar flames as he raised his Hammer of Sol and brought it down with a mighty clang on the mass of molten metal to give it shape. The Crucible master wore no protective gear other than his armor and used no common blacksmith tools other than the manifestation of the sun.

Preferring to his own two fists, the Crucible master did not really use the Sunbreaker's Hammer of Sol for combat but rather for the function that the hammer was made for, that being a blacksmith's hammer.

That was how Shaxx had crafted every last one of his blades and no one could deny that his swords had little to no equal in quality and function. The only ones that could rival the veteran Titan's creations were the swords created by the Iron Lords like Lord Saladin Forge who also used a similar method to make his weapons.

After finding the proper materials, Lord Shaxx had requisitioned one of Beacon's weapon forge, which he then had renovated to suit his needs since the subpar quality of the original would have been reduced to a molten mess from his rather extreme crafting methods. He then wasted no time to get to work on his latest creation that he was in the midst of placing the finishing touches.

"You wanted to see me, Lord Shaxx," Prometheus said, keeping a respectful distance from the older Guardian as he worked.

"Yes, I did," Shaxx grunted as he raised the white hot blade to inspect his handiwork, "I have something of note to show you. And perhaps give you."

Dismissing the Hammer of Sol and the flames of the Sunbreaker, the veteran Titan placed the sword in a nearby tub of water. The ensuing steam of evaporating water engulfed the entire room before it flowed out through the air vents.

"When my redjacks were scouring the sunken island Vytal, they came upon the shards of the sword that the being known as Nihileon wielded against Fireteam Nero," he explained as he pulled a lever. A pipe lowered itself to position above the tub before more water poured out, causing more steam to emerge from the container, "I had them bring a fragment of the shards to me while they disposed of the rest."

" _Oh no, please tell me he didn't,"_ the Exo Titan mentally pleaded as he seemed to have an inkling on where this was going.

"And it appears that I was not the only one to have thought to reverse engineer Hive Cleavers," Shaxx rumbled as he plunged his arm into the cloud of steam and pulled out the finished sword.

Like all the other weapons forged by Shaxx's hands, the sword was a masterpiece. It possessed a thin single-edged blade that was three and a half inches wide as a white orb rested within the fuller by the handguard. The hilt was a standard hand and half, being able to switch between a one-handed stance and a two-handed one. The tip ended in a somewhat salient curve and traces of circuitry glowed along the length of the blade.

The most important feature though was that the sword held trace amounts of influence from a Hive weapon, which was most concerning.

" _By the Traveler, he did,"_ Prometheus thought as he sighed deeply, _"First Oryx's sword and now this."_

The Titan of Fireteam Nero may have his reservations of Shaxx's impulsive and insane idea to create a sword out of Vex components. While he usually allowed the antics of anyone slide, he figured that it would be in everyone's best interest to voice his concerns in spite the dangers of getting reprimanded by Lord Shaxx.

"I mean no disrespect, Lord Shaxx but are you certain that it's wise to experiment with Vex technology?" Prometheus inquired with a carefully concealed wince, "We already warned Remnant on not to do the same and it would be a tad hypocritical if you did it anyway."

"Yes, it does. I would have done otherwise if it wasn't for a certain… _stranger_ calling me with the request to do so," the Crucible handler responded. He sounded a little annoyed at being told what to do by a so called stranger but if this stranger was who Prometheus suspected it to be, then it would have been foolish to ignore it.

The last time that someone supposedly refused to listen to this stranger's warnings, almost all of the Iron Lords were wiped out with Lord Saladin being the only survivor. As risky as it was to experiment on Vex technology, it would be even more so to disregard the Exo Stranger's instructions.

"She told me that it would be needed for the coming battles and that this sword should be wielded in the right hands," Shaxx continued as he held the weapon hilt first towards the Titan of Fireteam Nero, "Namely, _yours_."

Justly hesitant, Prometheus reached for the sword with his hand and his gripped around the hilt in a firm and yet steady hold as he took it from the Crucible Handler before asking, "Are you certain that this sword is safe for me to wield?"

"Fortunately, the method to purify a Hive sword works just as well on this particular sword," Lord Shaxx said as the sword emitted a slight purple glow to denote its affinity to the Void, "You should face no issues with it."

" _Should?"_ Prometheus echoed mentally.

He would have said his doubts aloud but that would entail doubting Lord Shaxx's capabilities. If there was one thing that Shaxx despised more than incompetent fighters, it would be someone doubting his abilities. The man could be quite prideful at times (for very, _very_ good reasons) and he did not appreciate anyone thinking otherwise so the Exo Titan wisely kept it to himself.

He instead voiced a different and yet still relevant question, "What is its name?"

"It is called Time's Edge."

00000

AN:

Thank you MEleeSmasher for giving me the idea for Prometheus' new sword. It was well appreciated.


	19. Be A Huntress!

AN:

Sorry that this chapter came out late but I came down with a nasty case of the flu so I couldn't get any writing done until I got better.

00000

Chapter 19

"Uncle Shin, I have a question," Ruby said as she laid spread-eagled on the ground, having exhausted herself from practicing the Air-jump with additional weights strapped to her arms and legs all day.

"Shoot," Shin Malphur said as he idly browsed through a weapons magazine.

The young leader of Team RWBY had taken to calling the Gunslinger 'Uncle Shin' three weeks into their training since he was technically related to her mother and by default, her. He had yet to protest being referred to her uncle so it was most likely that he didn't really mind.

On the second week since Team RWBY's training began, Ruby was able to use the Air-Jump practically second nature but her moment of triumph deflated when Shin informed her that it was the easiest trick to learn so not only did he make her do it again with additional weights but he also gave her several other exercises like trying to launch sonic waves with her scythe to increase her arsenal, excessive use of her semblance to earn a better mastery over it and a couple of knife maneuvers just in case she was disarmed again.

Ruby may have learned a lot under her Uncle Qrow's guidance but Shin Malphur was an even harsher taskmaster than the drunken Huntsman ever was. Not a day went by where her body wasn't immensely sore from all the workout that the Gunslinger put her through. She and the rest of teammates would go to bed late at night, exhausted from the day's training only to be rudely awakened at the crack of dawn by a flashbang grenade as their impromptu alarm clock.

"We've already met our mom's Ghost, Drei and even her teammates' Ghosts too," Ruby said as she pushed herself up into sitting position, "How come we haven't really been introduced to your Ghost yet?"

"Clint isn't as social like other Ghosts are. He prefers to keep to himself," Shin shrugged as he quickly ducked under the garrote wire that Blake tried to stealthily tie around his neck. Seeing her latest attempt at revenge fail once again, the cat faunus beat a swift retreat before the Gunslinger could bother to muster enough motivation to retaliate.

Ever since Shin's first sessions with her, the black haired girl had sworn to exact retribution against him for leaving her weaponless and tied up to an Alpha Grimm on more than a dozen occasions. Knowing that it wouldn't necessarily be a crime to kill him and that he would just revive from it, the normally stoic girl had tried to assassinate him so frequently that the rest of Team RWBY took the attempted first degree murders in stride.

As the target of these assassination attempts, Shin thought it was a great exercise for the former White Fang member when it came to tactical planning and awareness. In fact, Blake's motivations to kill him elevated her potential as a silent assailant from amateur-ish levels to slightly above average.

Considering that Shin had ridiculously high standards, his idea of slightly above average was actually a good deal higher than 'average'. It still wasn't even close to being enough to catch him with his guard down though.

"Oh, okay," Ruby said as she stood and began stretching her sore muscles.

"That and because he got too into Remnant's online games," Shin added as he suddenly whipped out his sidearm and fired several rounds at the red garbed girl who was forced to flit from side to side like an overactive hummingbird with rose petals for feathers to dodge the bullets, "He spends a lot of his time wrecking hacks and salty-ragers while leaving the job of mentoring you girls to me."

Deploying her scythe, the leader of Team RWBY rushed towards him from the side and swung her oversized weapon at him. Bracing his feet, Shin flipped the sidearm into a reverse grip and caught the bladed edge along the side of the barrel as sparks formed from the contact.

"Huh, I didn't think Ghosts could like playing games so much," Ruby replied in a conversational manner as she pulled back from the deadlock and tried to sweep his feet from under him.

"Ghosts are pretty much like people. You get all kinds of variety between them," he shrugged as the combat evaluation began in earnest. They dashed across the clearing, exchanging blows at rapid speeds but the older Roseus still held the advantage as he slowly overwhelmed the girl with his gun-katas until she overextended her scythe.

Shin stomped on the curved blade of Crescent Rose, trapping it between the sole of his boot and the ground as he twirled the sidearm the right way up and pressed the muzzle against the girl's forehead only to actually be taken aback by his sparring partner.

Both had pulled the trigger of their respective weapons at the same time. The recoil of Crescent Rose was enough to destabilize the Gunslinger's footing, causing his shot to go wide and not hit its mark as he fired. Capitalizing on the opening that she created, Ruby pulled her scythe from the ground and spun on her heel to hook her blade around his waist.

Slipping one of his dirks into his left hand, Shin held the blade in a reverse grip and used it to catch the scythe head in a quick parry as he aimed his sidearm at the red hooded girl once more only for a black ribbon-like material to wrap around his right forearm with the sickle of Gambol Shroud embedding deep into the barrel. As his gun exploded from misfire and the shrapnel bit into his shield, the Gunslinger felt his bound arm suddenly tugged to the side.

Arm still tied up, Shin jumped over Crescent Rose's swing and spun his body around, reeling the faunus girl in from her hiding place like a fish caught on a fishing rod. He brought his leg down in an axe kick at the black haired girl only to hit a shadow clone in her place. Blake flipped over her dissipating clone and delivered a kick of her own, which Shin blocked with his forearm while using the sole of his boot to stop the curved blade of the scythe in its track.

Using his arm as a springboard, Blake kicked off and untangled Gambol Shroud from his hand as the red and black members of Team RWBY pulled back to halt their assault. They were familiar enough with Shin Malphur that if the first plan of attack didn't work, it was best to retreat to reassess the situation. Or in this case…

A flash of white and yellow bounded out of the trees and were heading in their direction. A gigantic glyph with a cross sword pattern materialized as a large armored limb swung a tremendously huge broadsword at the Gunslinger.

Pull back to allow Plan B to unfold.

Trails of silvery light were formed around the elder Roseus as he whirled past the Schnee heiress' massive aura construct, successfully evading it by a hairsbreadth. His eyes slightly widened in alarm when he saw Yang crouching on the flat of the broadsword with a toothy grin from under her helmet before she kicked off of the construct with her arm reared back to unleash a powerful blow.

Shin raised his dirk and hit it on the attacking arm's bracer, thoroughly diverting both the punch and the accompanying shotgun shells away from his person. His other hand lashed out in a knife thrust at her jugular but her other hand slapped the thrust to the side before it could reach her throat. Her shotgun gauntlet discharged a round, allowing her to transition into a spinning side kick at his ribs only for him to block her kick with his raised knee.

Four dirks slipped into his free hand as he held each blade between his fingers. The whipped the pseudo-clawed hand to the side, catching the thin blade of Myrtenaster in between the second and third dirk. Shin twisted his wrist to trap Weiss Schnee's weapon within his blades as his boot impacted the raised guard of Yang Xiao Long, sending the blonde girl flying.

The Gunslinger quickly tilted his head to the side as another thin blade was thrust towards his face. His teeth bit onto the black katana to keep it locked in place as his left hand lifted the dirk it held and blocked the scythe blade from digging into his sides. He then moved his right arm to awkwardly catch the cleaver-like blade/sheath of Gambol Shroud with the crossed blades of his dirks and Myrtenaster.

Looking over Blake's shoulder, Shin saw that the team's heavy hitter had already reoriented herself and flung herself back towards him to resume the fight. His current situation basically equated to being pinned with his movements restricted from blocking the attacks of the other three girls so he was left at a severe disadvantage, which everyone here was aware of.

Usually, Shin always possessed the aerial advantage with his mastery over the Air-walk technique but the Schnee heiress was able to counter it by creating platforms with her semblance for her teammates to stand on. Not only that but it was also the same standard white glyph that propelled its target in a certain direction, providing them with an extra speed boost.

While the Gunslinger was perfectly capable of withstanding a couple of solid blows from the young yellow dragon with little to no problems, he would rather prefer not to. Even though you could take the hit, it didn't mean that one still should.

Cancelling his Air-walking technique, he retracted the blades of his dirks and dropped below the girls, causing them to stumble from the sudden lack of resistance. He slipped the empty hilts of his weapons back into their holsters on his forearms as he pulled out an incendiary grenade and tossed it into the center of Team RWBY. The grenade detonated in an impressive display of flames right when Yang reached her teammates so all four girls were caught within the blast radius.

But to the silver eyed man's surprise, a large cloud of steam was left behind instead of smoke as the fires dissipated. As his vision was obscured by the steam, he then realized that Weiss must have erected a barrier of ice around herself and her teammates to shield themselves from the explosion and the lingering flames.

A simple 'smoke'screen like this would have been rendered useless against Shin but he had opted to not wear a helmet so he couldn't simply look through the built-in motion sensor in the HUD. He could have easily put one on but since he started the fight without wearing one, he figured that he would end without one as well.

Besides, those girls needed all of the advantage that they can get against an opponent like him.

Shin swept his arm to the side, conjuring a wide of wave Solar flames to blow the cloud away before it could reach him. Whatever the members of Team RWBY were planning to do was put to an abrupt halt as they were blown back by his power. He prepared to launch himself at the prone forms of the Huntresses in training but he felt something grab his leg in a vice grip before he was violently flung towards the ground.

Reorienting himself, Shin witnessed the prone forms of Team RWBY fade away into shadows, revealing them to be actually clones in disguise as a series of glyphs surrounded him. Four clock-like glyphs appeared under the real members of Team RWBY, one for each of them before shooting off like comets of their respective colors.

Blake must have used her semblance and created shadow clones to match each of their likeness while using the steam to mask the team's movements to set up this trap for him to fall into. A masterful deception that even had Shin fooled.

Initiating the Air-walk technique, Shin weaved around the girls' attacks as best as he could but it was difficult even by his standards to block and evade four simultaneous assaults moving at such high speeds. Eventually, he was going to make a mistake.

And he did as he made to block an attack from the faunus girl only for it to turn out to be another shadow clone so he accidently left himself open for the blonde brawler to slip a right hook into his guard. The Gunslinger shot towards the earth where he crashed and created a crater from the impact.

"Well played," he said as Team RWBY stood at the edge of the crater with their weapons trained on his prone form. He pushed himself up and began to dust himself off as the four girls kept their guards up in spite of the clear signs of their exhaustion, "Well played, indeed."

"I guess this is my loss," Shin admitted with a shrug as the first year team finally allowed themselves to relax albeit slightly, "Congratulations, your first win out of the forty-two sparring matches we had."

Of course, the Gunslinger still would have won this round if he hadn't decided to forfeit since he was still relatively good to continue while the girls had already worn themselves out. But considering how the first fight against him went, this one was a stark improvement and had obviously shown how much they each improved.

Ruby had less dependence on the recoil of her gun for rapid movement and had achieved better control of her semblance along with the Air-jump technique. However, the girl was still nowhere near ready to attempt replicating anymore Guardian abilities.

Weiss had actually managed to actively wield the summoning aspect of her semblance but she could only manifest parts of her summons instead of the entire being. Shin knew that quoting "Frozen" to her was a good idea.

Blake began to use her semblance in more offensive ways and became more aggressive with her fighting style (even more so when faced against Shin). Her hatred of the Gunslinger had overridden her apparent cowardice. A mixed blessing really but whatever worked.

Yang still had the tendency to blow a gasket but she was able to get her temper under a modicum of control just as long as no one messed with her hair or insulted her weight. She also learned some grappling moves and counters from him but mostly the ones that had to with chokeholds and how to effectively break free from them.

All in all, Shin Malphur did a good job with Team RWBY during their month long training. They were now guaranteed to survive Lord Shaxx's special curriculum for the first few days.

" _Poor kids but better them than me,"_ Shin thought as he gave a silent prayer for the unfortunate students about to unknowingly head towards a fate worse than death because the day after tomorrow was the start of their new classes.


	20. Prelude to Doomsday

AN:

I'm back! For the puppies!

00000

Chapter 20

"Wow, Vale sure made a comeback!" Yang said loudly with her usual cheer as she and the rest of Team RWBY sat in one of the tables of a Stardoe coffee shop where the first year team usually enjoyed an afternoon off with a hot drink and a pastry of their choice.

It was quite fortuitous that the girls' chosen café to hang out in was one of the establishments still standing after Remnant's war with the Vex concluded. Strangely enough, the building, which happened to be a bar, from across the street was burned to the ground with reports saying that it occurred _after_ the giant Vex was destroyed by the port of Vale.

"You wouldn't have known that this place was mostly rubble because of the Vex War," Blake agreed with her partner as they took in the sights of buildings both new and old through the café's windows, "The Guardians definitely kept their promise to help rebuild the city."

It was a surreal and yet a welcoming sight to witness both mechs and Guardians of Earth assisting in the reconstruction of Vale. Combined with Glynda Goodwitch's semblance, repairing buildings was accomplished relatively quickly while the construction of new buildings were done by Remnant's construction companies and the Guardians that volunteered.

While the Huntsmen were the undisputed defenders of Remnant, not many actually aid in cleaning up the aftermath of their battles and the Atlesian military didn't really employ their androids for such endeavors other than combat since the Atlesian machines were not really programmed for these kinds of tasks and it was considered a waste by a good deal of high ranking officials from Atlas to reprogram the machines to so.

Now, such opinions were starting to bite them in the ass when Hunter Vanguard, Cayde-6 informed them that not only did the Last City use androids for warfare like Atlas but the androids could also serve as menial labors with the simple flick of a switch. It went without saying that the most technologically advanced nation in Remnant did not appreciate being shown up even with something small like this.

It also didn't help that there were rumors of the Vanguard negotiating with the Councils about installing a communications networks that would render the Cross Continental Transit system obsolete. Not only would it mean faster and more efficient communications in Remnant but it also allowed communications across solar systems, more specifically the solar system where the planet Earth resided in.

The technology of the Last City may have been more advanced than what Atlas possessed but its use was widely restricted on Remnant with the exception of operations where both the Guardians of Earth and the Huntsmen of Remnant cooperate with one another as well as upgrading the medical equipment of various hospitals.

However, things like weapons and jumpships were reserved for Guardians only unless they signed up to become an agent of the Vanguard, which already had several volunteers in the past month.

Team RWBY even heard that Professor Oobleck, Beacon's history teacher, was trying to register for a inter-solar system visa (a concept recently concocted for both Earth and Remnant) so he could experience firsthand the wealth of knowledge that the Sol system held as well as the alien culture in spite of their hostile disposition against humanity. For now, Oobleck was working with the Warlock Byf so they could learn of each other's respective world's history.

Considering that Earth had been around much longer than Remnant, the caffeine addict was the one who was learning the most out of their partnership.

"Although, I think the Vanguard's representative could at least hold himself with a bit more decorum to fit his rank," Weiss said pointedly as she took a dainty sip from her cup of skinny, no-foam latte with a hint of honey, "The man can be so immature that I wonder what the rest of the Vanguard were thinking when they appointed him as the ambassador."

"Maybe that's why people like him so much," Ruby suggested as she cradled her mug of hot chocolate before taking a bite from her strawberry shortcake, "Cayde's so chill compared to the other leaders we've seen."

"Plus, he's got a great sense of humor," the blonde brawler added, "If our leaders were more like Cayde, I would pay better attention whenever they're doing those PA thingies."

"And he's also honest. That automatically makes him more respectable in my book," the former White Fang member remarked, "At least compared to every other politician out there."

As one of the marginalized people of Remnant, Blake didn't really have a good opinion concerning to those in power so the Hunter Vanguard, Cayde-6's disposition to his duty and privileges was a breath of fresh air to her.

If only he would stop trying to pet Blake's cat ears when he stopped by Patch to visit his protégé, Summer Rose, then that would be so much better. Seriously, why did Cayde had to be a cat-person?

The faunus girl would always threaten bodily harm whenever his hand inched closer to her animal digits until the Exo Hunter offered a bribe of fresh fish for her to dine on. She did feel some shame for caving in to his requests but the exquisite taste of the tribute that he gave her quickly overrode whatever objections she had.

Blake did not have a problem. It was perfectly normal to enjoy the taste of fish like any connoisseur if one ignored the fact that she just ate the fish raw and with her bare hands while hissing and growling at anyone who got too close to her meal.

"The man could at least have the decency to remember my name," the Schnee heiress dryly stated as her left eye twitched a few times, "You think someone who's part super computer would have great memory."

Weiss was more than a little miffed when she discovered that Cayde didn't even remember her name and she went to great lengths to ensure that he would not forget it next time but to no avail. The Exo kept referring to her as every name that began with a 'W' other than her actual one. It irked the white haired girl to no ends.

Weiss may respect the Exo for his combat prowess, finding Team RWBY a mentor and saving their lives but she swore that if he called her Wendy one more time, she would stick Myrtenaster so far up whatever passed as a sphincter for Exos that he was going to feel it after resurrecting.

Of course, she had yet to realize that Cayde-6 already knew what her name was by the third encounter and that he simply chose to get her name wrong just to rile the girl up. It was one of the few things that he could enjoy now that his job as both ambassador and Hunter Vanguard took up almost all of his free time.

"Hey, wasn't Team JNPR supposed to meet us here by now?" Ruby said as she recalled that they scheduled an outing with their fellow first year team, "What's taking them so long?"

"Beats me," Yang shrugged.

"Maybe Nora got them into trouble again?" Blake suggested, "That seems like the most possible explanation for them to be late.

"It wouldn't be the first time," Weiss sighed in exasperation.

00000

Unbeknownst to the members of Team RWBY, Nora Valkyrie wasn't the reason why Team JNPR was running late. Rather, it was because of someone who everyone least expected to cause a scene.

Several blocks down from the café where Team RWBY spent their last day of the impromptu semestral break, a large crowd gathered on the streets, inadvertently blocking traffic and yet they paid no heed to the blaring horns of cars as loud and catchy music boomed over the vehicle's protests. Any angry driver that left their seat to investigate the source would find themselves losing whatever fueled their irritation as they become enraptured by what garnered the audience's attention.

At the center of the crowd was a wide clearing to give space for the two groups facing towards each other. The first group was none other than the male members of Team JNPR with the female members off to the side, yelling their respective partners' names to cheer them on while the other group consisted of several Guardians. Each side glared at the other in unyielding determination.

"You did well at the dance machine, kid," one of the Guardians, a Warlock, called out as he pointed a finger at the magenta eyed boy dressed in green, "But let's see how well you can move on the streets for real."

"You have brought dishonor upon me when you beat my high score," Lien Ren responded with an uncharacteristically loud voice as he smiled dangerously, "By only. One. Point."

"You have already brought dishonor upon yourself by having a score that could be beaten so easily!"

"How did I get dragged into this?" the hapless leader of Team JNPR moaned dejectedly as the Warlock and Ren traded trash talk with one another. Seeing that it could take a while if they continued throwing barbed talk at the other, Jaune felt that it would be prudent to interrupt, "So are we doing this or what!?"

"Ladies first," the Warlock gestured to the center of the clearing as he and his compatriots backed away, the same rhythmic blaring around them.

" _Oh, it's on now,"_ the blond swordsman thought as he shared a look with Ren. The two brothers in all but blood nodded their heads at each other and marched forward with a spring in their steps before everything went down.

It didn't matter if their opponents were Guardians. Jaune and Ren were going to win this dance-off and show these punks not to mess with them especially when it came to the sacred art known as dance.

00000

 _Meanwhile_

"Hey Summer, wanna go see that new monster movie?" Qrow asked as he strode without a care into the small cabin that Summer Rose converted into her personal workshop.

"I dunno, Qrow. I've seen the prices that Vale has on their movie snacks," Summer said as she looked over the disassembled pieces of the Icebreaker with a pair of goggles and a big magnifying glass, "It just not worth it even though I kinda do wanna watch."

Ever since the White Rose managed to acquired the experimental sniper rifle, she tasked herself to see if she could replicate the unique firing mechanism of the Icebreaker without any of the negative drawbacks like the dangers of it overheating and exploding in her face. She wanted to create a new line of weapons based on the Icebreaker that could be safely used by the general populace, Guardian or otherwise.

Summer devoted a lot of her free time in the past months prior to Remnant's rediscovery and she found that she still had a long way to go before she even came close to achieving this goal. It certainly didn't help that her tinkering was put on hold during her time on Remnant but with her daughters going back to school tomorrow, she found the necessary time to resume her experiments.

Assuming that this didn't blow up on her again and push her way behind schedule again.

"We could use that scientificy-majig to sneak in candy," the veteran Huntsman suggested as the young Guardian materialized a pair of tweezers to hold a particularly volatile component of the Icebreaker, "The same thing that lets you store whatever you want in."

"…" Summer paused in her work as she realized that he was talking about the matter conversion unit she had. After this fact dawned on her, she reassembled the experimental sniper rifle in less than a minute and stared at her previous life's teammate through her dark goggles, "I knew we were old friends for a reason."

"Then what're we waiting for?" Qrow smirked in satisfaction at his plan unfolding quite nicely as the two former members of Team STRQ exited the workshop.

The old Summer Rose would have never allowed Qrow to smuggle in candy into a movie theater since she was such a stickler for the rules like Taiyang. However, the current Summer Rose held no regard for little things like that unlike how Tai continued being a stick in the mud to this very day.

As much as Qrow missed his old leader, this new one was much more fun to hang out with. It made him forget about the drawbacks of his semblance even just for a few hours.

"Oh hey, where are you two going?" Tai inquired when he saw his old teammates gather under the Guardian's jumpship, the Cloud Errant.

"We're just gonna see that new monster flick, Tai," the dusty old crow answered before downing a mouthful from his flask.

He would have offered his friend to join them but he knew the Xiao Long patriarch would disapproved them using advanced technology to sneak in candy to the movie theater. Tai was such a killjoy that way. Unfortunately, his accomplice, Summer still had not fully re-familiarized herself with the characteristics of her old friends.

"We're gonna smuggle some candy in," Summer told the blond man, earning wide eyed looks from the male former members of Team STRQ, "Wanna come with?"

"Dammit Qrow! I should have expected something like this from you!" Tai angrily exclaimed as he berated the scythe-wielder, "It's bad enough you're teaching our daughters your bad habits, which always get them into trouble at school but now you had to rope their mother into this!"

"Whoa, don't try to pin this on me," Qrow protested, "I'm out there working my ass off with secret missions. What do you do all day?"

"Oh, you suddenly care? You want to know what I do all day?"

"That's what I'm asking."

"I make a home for this family, that's what I do all day," Tai said as tears began to form under his eyes, "And it wouldn't kill you to show a little appreciation!"

"I don't have to listen to your crazy," Qrow scoffed.

"You also don't have to eat my cooking," the blond homemaker shot back.

Summer was starting to feel very uncomfortable from where this conversation was going. She was more than out of her depth with this kind of situation and not even her Ghost, Drei wanted to come out to placate the two Huntsmen.

"Oh yeah? Well, your noodles are overcooked anyway," Qrow retorted as the White Rose backed away as slowly and quietly as possible in order to get out of listening to this any longer.

Tai gasped in shock and hurt as he held a hand to his chest, specifically where his heart was, "How dare you. I want you out! Get out of my house!"

Once she was out of sight, Summer sprinted at full speed to escape the ensuing fallout of this argument between spouses. Even though she was already a great distance away from the two men, she could still hear their voices.

"Fine, I will but I'm taking my drink mixer with me."

"It's called a blender, which my mother gave to me."

"I licked it; it's mine!"

"That's not a thing! Quit licking my stuff!"

Yup, Summer was definitely not going within sniper rifle range of _that_!

00000

Lord Saladin Forge trekked through the snow with torch raised in one hand, his helmet clutched under the other and the pack of wolves that called this snowy mountain home behind him. The Iron Lord and his animal companions were constantly buffeted by cold winds and snow that would have forced anyone else to take shelter lest they succumb to the biting cold.

But for the Titan and the wolf pack, it might as well be a cool breeze to them for they have spent many years hardening themselves to the harshness of nature.

Eventually, Saladin arrived at one of the many checkpoints in the Iron Lords' former patrol route where an unlit brazier laid. Narrowing his eyes, the veteran Titan could make out a horde of silhouettes in the distance. The silhouettes were tall and had spindly limbs like insects but if what he suspected the silhouettes were was true, then these beings were no insects.

Confirming his suspicions, the wolves sidled up next to him and bared their fangs in a deep throaty growl. The creatures' natural senses picking up what his finely honed senses could not perceive. The last Iron Lord's expression tightened as he tossed the still burning torch into the brazier, creating a zone of orange light that illuminated the shapes lurking in the distance.

The wolves' enraged barks and growls could be heard over the rushing winds as hordes of Fallen garbed in red brandished their weapons. The animals that followed the Titan held no love for the hostile alien race, sharing Saladin's animosity for those that threatened the denizens of Earth on numerous occasions.

Saladin raised the helmet clutched under his arm and places it over his head, donning the complete set of his ornate armor. He reached towards his waist and pulled out a metal tube-shaped object. The tube then extended into a long pole with two intricately decorated axe heads at the top before the war-axe was engulfed in flames comparable to a Sunbreaker's Hammer of Sol.

As if through an unspoken signal, the forces of Earth and the forces of the Fallen began their charge towards the opposition. The Fallen raised their Shock pistols and rifles and unleashed a volley of Arc bolts. The Titan deftly twirled his war-axe, deflecting the energy bolts away from his person as the wolves either ducked under the projectiles or weaved around them. Unfortunately, a few of the wolves were still hit as they tumbled over themselves with pained yelps.

That only served to fuel both the Iron Lord and the remaining pack's rage, which was the Fallen House of Devils' second mistake. Their first was coming here.

In mere moments, the front lines of the opposing armies clashed with a cacophony of steel and tearing flesh as Lord Saladin swung his axe, cleaving scores of Fallen at once while the wolves leapt up and dug their sharp fangs into the enemies' vulnerable necks.

The former Titan Vanguard raised his weapon and spun it around in an orange blur, collecting the Arc bolts being fired upon his form before he swung his axe forward and sent the energy bolts back to their senders, killing the Devils with their own attacks. His defense and deflection wasn't as perfect as his late friend and leader, Radegast's as some projectiles slipped through and impacted against his form. Luckily, his shields and armor were more than capable of absorbing the damage even though he could easily withstand a barrage like this.

He jumped into the air before hurling himself with a Titan's Catapult technique into the center of the Fallen army. As he landed, the Titan smashed the end of his axe into the ground, creating a massive wave of solar flames that incinerated any aliens unfortunate enough to be caught within the blast radius. Even those on the edge of the blast radius were not left unscathed as they writhed on the ground with severe third degree burns.

Dislodging his axe from the scorched earth, the Titan dashed forward and rammed his shoulder into the nearest Fallen, barreling them over and disrupting their formation. Twisting to the side, he caught several blades along the shaft of his weapon. With a curt grunt, he pushed the blades of the Fallen back and swung his axe at one of the Vandals. The burning blade easily burrowed into the Fallen's breastplate, extinguishing his life-force.

The Titan slid the axe out of the corpse and used the length of the pole to sweep the legs of another Fallen out from under them before slamming the blade into his skull. Swinging the axe upwards, he caught a Vandal in an uppercut with his weapon, sending the foe flying high into the air before spinning on his heel to decapitate a score of Dregs. One Vandal got lucky and made it past Saladin's guard but before he could slip his sword through the Titan's armor, Saladin grabbed the Fallen by the wrist, pulled him in closer and smashed his helmet into the Vandal's faceplate, caving in the alien's skull in a move reminiscent to how Saint-14 killed the previous Kell of the Fallen House of Devils.

Releasing his hold on the Vandal that he just killed with a head-butt, Lord Saladin resumed his assault on the army of Fallen as each swing of his legendary axe spelled the doom of more than a couple of Fallen soldiers.

Not to be outdone, the wolves followed after the Iron Lord and unleashed their bestial wrath on the Fallen that he missed. One wolf would jump up and dig their teeth into a Fallen's arm to prevent them from using their weapons properly while the other wolves would take advantage of this vulnerable state to knock the prey down before rip the poor Fallen's throat out. A simple and yet effective tactic that felled many foes while a majority of the Fallen's focus was on the lone Iron Lord.

While they did not possess the same complex thought process as humans and the other sapient races, their methods and strategy of combat were no less effective. After all, animals were much smarter than what people gave them credit for.

Although, the strategy of disabling enemy's arms before going in for the kill may be effective but not all of the wolves employed it. Some merely chose to pull on the restrained limbs until the flesh and tendons of the prey reached their utmost limits before tearing, effectively ripping a Fallen apart limb from limb.

Killing members of the pack always made wolves all the more vindictive and bloodthirsty towards the guilty party. A fact that the Fallen had soon realized for themselves as animal and man both tore through their ranks with equal passion.

If the Fallen wished to enter the Forgotten world of Remnant so badly, then Lord Saladin Forge and his wolf companions were going to make them work really hard for it. In spite of being the only one left, the Iron Lord will give the opposition no quarter nor will he show them his back. He will break whatever the Fallen sent at him and then some.

The ashes of these Fallen would serve as a reminder to the rest of their enemies that the Iron Lords were not dead yet.

It also reminded the former Titan Vanguard that perhaps it was time to extend the ranks of the Iron Lords once more. How fortunate that he had certain Guardians, who he deemed more than worthy. Three Guardians to be exact.

To be frank, this was a long time coming.

00000

AN:

Chapters will be updated once every two weeks instead of one week.


	21. Shining Beacon

AN:

I have a confession to make: I actually don't have Destiny 2 yet so I have basically no idea what happens in the game nor do I wish for anyone to spoil it for me in the reviews. I plan on waiting for Bungie to release all of the expansions before getting it.

With that said, I will be taking a year long hiatus after I finish Remnant of an Iron Rose. I will be spending the majority of the break occupied with real life as well as catching up with the stories of the Destiny and RWBY so I have a better idea to flesh out a continuation.

00000

Chapter 21

The time had finally arrived.

A multitude of airships docked on their assigned landing pads to deposit the returning students of the newly repaired Beacon Academy. A cacophony of colors filled the courtyard and the excited gossiping of adolescents reverberated through the air as the Huntsmen and Huntresses in training filed past each other in a bid to reach their destination, the school's amphitheater. All were very eager to see what the Guardians of Earth had in store for the future defenders of Remnant.

While a good percentage of the students originally attended Beacon for the first half of the school year, there was a lot of transfer students from the other combat schools such as Shade of Vacuo, Haven of Mistral and Atlas of Atlas ("Yeah, that _definitely_ won't confuse anyone"- Cayde-6) in attendance. The influx of transfer students in spite of the Vytal Festival being canceled was due to this being more of a trial run in order to how the trainees would take to the new Huntsman/Guardian curriculum. And since it was just a trial run, the Vanguard and Councils of Remnant decided that Beacon would be the first school to undergo these new changes.

If this trial run proved to be a success, then more instructors from Earth would transfer to the various combat schools across Remnant. Not only was this a way to prepare the future generations of warriors for the terrors from beyond the stars but it was also a bid to strengthen ties between the Kingdoms of Remnant and the Last City.

Of course, not many students realized the second reason since they were still too naïve in spite of having already experienced the horrors of war so a majority remained oblivious. Hopefully, the opening speech that the headmaster of Beacon was supposed give as well as the one followed by the Hunter Vanguard would clarify this to them.

The students fell into a hushed silence as the faculty of Beacon and three individuals garbed in distinctive Guardian gear appeared on the elevated platform before them. Due to their somewhat familiarity with the original teachers of Beacon, their attention was mostly on the three Guardians.

The Titan, the Warlock and the Hunter.

They could only guess the identities of the first two Guardians but the third one was unmistakably the Hunter Vanguard, Cayde-6. The Huntsmen and Huntresses to be would have been left awestruck as such a renowned figure being in their midst if it wasn't for the fact that the Exo Hunter was idly playing a game on his scroll. Judging from the digital squawks and oinks emanating from the handheld device, Cayde was probably playing that new hit game, Furious Avian.

A vein visibly bulged on the forehead of Glynda Goodwitch as she snatched the scroll from the Exo's hands. He was about to protest the sudden and yet justified confiscation of his scroll but after seeing the look the blonde woman leveled at him, he decided otherwise. Instead, he made himself appear like he was standing at attention like the rest of the faculty.

Seeing that there were no more distractions, the headmaster of Beacon Academy thought it was the right time to start the assembly. Stepping forward, he cleared his throat and then spoke into the microphone.

"As you all know, the Huntsmen and Huntresses were created after the conclusion of the Great War in order to ensure the peace would last by defending the kingdoms from either the Grimm or internal threats," Professor Ozpin began as his brown eyes surveyed the gathered students before him, "But never has the thought crossed my mind that we, Huntsmen would be called on to do battle against those that dwelled from beyond Remnant."

"Never have I thought that I would face anything more inherently monstrous than the Grimm but alas, I was proven wrong as the alien race known as the Vex made themselves known to us."

"Nearly a century of peace was abruptly broken as these extraterrestrial cyborgs ravaged our lands and slaughtered human, faunus and Grimm alike. But through these dark times, a fellow Huntress that we thought lost had returned to us in a way that could only be described as miraculous. Summer Rose returned to our ranks and brought with her two things that turned the tide of war to our favor."

"The first is the knowledge on how to fight the Vex. Without it, we would have suffered heavy losses in life and infrastructure before we developed the means to counter such unfamiliar enemies."

"The second is our newest and staunchest allies that came to Remnant's time of need," Ozpin paused as he stepped to the side and raised his arm to gesture at the Titan, Warlock and Hunter, "The Guardians."

The audience took that as cue to begin applauding for the group of warriors that were literally out of this world. The Guardians of the Titan and Warlock class took the applause in stride while the Hunter practically preened under all the attention and drank their enthusiasm in.

It was also the cue for the representative of the Last City to take center stage as Professor Ozpin stepped aside to allow the Exo to deliver a speech of his own.

"Wonderful speech, Ozpin. Not sure how I can top that but I'll give it my best shot," Cayde-6 started in a carefree tone, a contrast to the serious speech from earlier, "Basically, aliens are real and they want to kill us."

A crude and yet apt way to describe the current circumstances. It was pretty much the summarization of what the headmaster of Beacon was saying earlier.

"Right now, you kiddos have no idea of the kind of enemies lurking out there. But if you think you do, then let me tell you that the Vex were only the tip of the iceberg. They are simply one of the four alien races that want to vaporize our butts off."

"Heck, we already went through two wars, including the one Remnant had with the Vex, on this _year_ alone and the other aliens are pushing for a _third_ _war_ at the rate they're going!"

A wave of unsettled murmurs echoed across the amphitheater as the students reacted to this disturbing news. The war against the Vex was already bad enough for the people of Remnant. They were nowhere near prepared for another war against a hostile alien race so soon after the previous one.

"While our Guardians back on Earth are doing their best to prevent anymore aliens from entering Remnant's borders," Cayde informed the audience as he had his Ghost project a hologram of the recently constructed fortress guarding the Gateway to Remnant, "We figured it's still better to prepare you guys in the event that the xenos do break through. Better safe than sorry as the saying goes."

That was very understandable. Even though the four kingdoms of Vale had their own natural barricade against the Grimm, it did not lessen the necessity for Huntsmen and Huntresses. Apparently, the same could be applied here. There was no harm in making themselves ready for another alien threat after all. If anything else, it was quite prudent to do so.

"So the Vanguard and Ozpin here decided to pool our resources to make a new curriculum that would better prepare you guys for future battles against aliens," the Hunter Vanguard stated as the hologram of the fortress was replaced by two glowing arrows that each pointed at the horned Titan and the blonde professor, "Lord Shaxx here will work with your combat instructor, Glynda to adjust your fighting style and tactics that will be less liable to get you brutally maimed."

The aforementioned people swiped their hands at the holographic arrows in irritation. The directional aid dispersed only to reappear over the Warlock and Professor Bartolomew Oobleck.

"While Warlock Byf and Barty are gonna give you kiddos history lessons. Yay!" the Exo cheered in false enthusiasm. One could practically feel the sarcasm that he put in that statement as the two history buffs shot him unamused looks while waves of groans came from the less than studious students in the audience, "Learning is so much fun!"

Goodwitch pointedly coughed to nonverbally tell the Hunter Vanguard to get back on track. She was also rather irked that he made light of such an important thing to learn.

"We also have other electives that we believe are essential to your careers as Huntsmen or at the very least will come in handy. Remember, these are all optional so you don't have to take them if you don't wanna," Cayde began to list off, "These are mainly driving lessons for Sparrows and jumpships. Although, you won't be piloting actual jumpships for the latter one. Just simulations."

"I could go on but I'm sure I already kept you kiddos long enough. Plus, the last of the waivers you signed are done processing so I'm outta here!" the Hunter Vanguard punctuated his last statement by tossing a smoke bomb at his feet, obscuring his form from sight and causing the non-Guardian faculty to start coughing from the smoke. By the time the smoke dispersed, he was already gone.

Now that his part was done, Cayde was not going to stick around any longer than he should have. He did not want to be blamed for this upcoming trainwreck in spite of how much he wanted to watch it happen.

00000

 _Elsewhere_

A woman in red jumped over the offending swipe of a Beowolf. While still in the air, she held her arms to the side as twin blades of obsidian formed within her grasps. The blades were engulfed in flames as they lashed out and sliced through the Grimm's flesh like a hot knife through butter. The lady in red landed behind the now headless Beowolf in a slight crouch as the deceased creature's began to dissolve into a pool of black tar-like substance.

As if acting on a will of its own, the mysterious substance expanded and began to flow until it surrounded the woman on all sides. Piercing red orbs appeared on the surface of the umbral pool as grasping appendages of claw and bones emerged and dug into the floor. Having proper leverage, more than dozens of Beowolves rose from the pool and set their sights upon the lone woman.

The fight against the creatures of Darkness had begun in earnest.

Two Beowolves broke off from the main group and charged at the woman in red. The flaming blades moved in several flashes, cutting the Grimm into pieces as the rest of the pack sprung into action, motivated by the death of their companions.

The woman simply dispersed her weapons into particles of embers and she brushed her hair back with a derisive scoff, dismissing the approaching herd as a threat that would require her swords. The amber eyes of the woman emitted an orange-white light as fires poured out of her palms like an active volcano.

Waves of unrelenting inferno were summoned and consumed Grimm after Grimm as the woman danced around the beasts with a purposeful and yet borderline sensual grace. Soon, the storm of fire was joined by blades of ice and spears of lightning as the creatures of Darkness fell before her in droves. In a matter of minutes, the woman stood triumphantly in the chamber now devoid of Grimm.

The current Maiden of Autumn, Cinder Fall smirked in satisfaction as she studied how the flames danced in the palm of her hand. She had not been spending the past month idly. Instead, she dove headfirst into mastering the full acquired powers of the Fall Maiden with an almost obsessed drive and the fruits of her labor showed great progress. In less than a month, Cinder had ascended into a being that no Huntsman on Remnant had a ghost of a chance of defeating her in battle.

The smirk on her face slipped into a frown when she heard the sound of clapping. The clapping was slow and clipped as if the one making the noise was more amused at a child learning the simplest of things than at someone achieving an extraordinary feat.

Unfortunately, the warriors of Remnant were not the only threats out there. A thought that not only infuriated Cinder but also her mistress, Salem. To be considered a less than secondary threat to the wellbeing of humanity by these Guardians was the greatest insult. If only it weren't actually the case, then they would not be so desperate for the aid of their new 'allies'.

"Such a splendid display, Ms. Fall," Dredgen Craneel praised as his form materialized from the shadows casted by the shattered moon, "You certainly possess more skill and talent than Warlocks your age."

Another fact that drove Cinder into rage. She had spent much of her life to set her apart from the common masses, even selling her soul to the closest thing to a devil on Remnant just so she could attain the power of Autumn. But ever since the arrival of those accursed Guardians, she was no longer unique for there existed multiple orders of near magical beings called the Warlocks that perform the same miracles that the Maidens could. Perhaps even greater due to them not being constrained to the ravages of time.

The Maidens, and Cinder Fall by default, were indeed powerful. There was no denying that but they were still mere mortals in the end with all the limitations that it entailed while the Guardians were not. Cinder could possibly kill a Guardian under the proper circumstances but there was no guarantee that the Guardian in question would _stay dead_.

"Why, thank you, Mr. Craneel," Cinder smiled beatifically as she inwardly seethed in fury, "I am honored that you deemed me worthy enough of your praise."

As much as she desired to rip the Dark Warlock asunder, she knew that it was futile to even attempt to do so because Dredgen Craneel had already shown her how unwise it would be to battle him.

The Fall Maiden's right hand unconsciously gripped the black glove that covered her left arm from the fingertips to past her elbow as she fought to contain her trembling fingers. Under the glove was a rather grotesque scar that had severely marred her once unblemished skin. The Dark Warlock had inflicted that grievous injury upon her to teach Cinder respect and it was only by his grace and advanced knowledge on the arcane that she still retained full functions on her arm, leaving the scar as a constant reminder.

"May I ask where are the good Dr. Merlot and your comrade, Dredgen Vena?" Cinder inquired as she released her arm and tried to display herself as a calm and serene picture, "You two are usually not far apart from one another and the latter's absence is starting to worry me."

"I left Merlot with your mistress, Salem so they could work on the latest batch of Grimm together while Vena is out busy with her silly experiment of trying to teach a Beowolf on how to play a guitar," Craneel answered a dismissive wave, opting to ignore her less than subtle bid to change the subject, "He has proven to be more capable than I anticipated but he is still quite the bore to work with. The less said about Vena, the better."

"How odd. The two of you appeared to have gotten along with each other splendidly," she remarked, silently agreeing with the man (or robot? He never actually took that helmet of his off to confirm) about the Dark Hunter.

"That was then and this is now," he retorted before leveling his gaze to stare at her with that creep skull mask/helmet of his, "My current interests just so happened to fall onto something else."

Cinder could garner a guess on what the Warlock of the Shadows of Yor took an interest in from how he was eyeing her not like a piece of meat but rather a specimen that an overenthusiastic biologist would have loved to dissect. It made her skin crawl into goosebumps and she wasn't even subjected to the full effects of his gaze due to the helmet covering his eyes.

With Salem's attention elsewhere, this was the best if not outright perfect opportunity for Craneel to conduct whatever twisted experiments that his craven mind wished to do her. Having failed her mistress numerous times, Cinder also was under no delusion that the Grimm Queen would intervene in her stead unless it resulted in her death and the Dark Warlock knew of many ways to keep his test subjects alive even when they were reduced to mere clumps of flesh and bone.

"Ms. Fall, would you and your cohorts like to be reborn from the Darkness as members of the Shadows of Yor?"

Of all the things that Cinder imagined Dredgen Craneel would do to her, that was the least expected.

00000

AN:

To the people that wanted me to bring back Amber as a Guardian, at least it's still a Fall Maiden, right?

00000

Omake: Kindred Spirits Pt. 1

"Seriously, what kind of monster thinks pun are even remotely clever or funny?" Lux Sylphid whined as she grabbed a bottle of rhum and drank straight from the bottle, "But Summer and her family just had to prove me wrong!"

"I hear ya, silver lady," the Warlock's drinking partner, Qrow Branwen slurred in agreement with her as he downed several mouthfuls from metal flask, "Tai's like a brother to me but I will bitchslap the facial off of him of I have to sit down and listen to his terrible jokes for an hour."

"Fuck that! I'll just kill myself and then him next!" the Awoken exclaimed, "After that, I'll find a Ghost to pair him up with just so I can have the pleasure of killing him again!"

"You know, this is the start of a beautiful friendship," Qrow grinned as he raised his flask to her.

"I think so too," Lux conceded as she clanked her bottle with his flask before they gulped the entire contents of their respective alcoholic containers down.

"Maybe friends with benefits?" the Huntsman flashed her a toothy grin.

"Don't push it."


	22. Lord Shaxx's School For Hard Knocks

AN:

This chapter is for all you Titan lovers out there. I may prefer Hunter but Titans possess a special place in my heart for being the ones I hide behind during Raids.

00000

Chapter 22

Lord Shaxx stood with Glynda Goodwitch in the center of the arena where the combat classes of Beacon Academy took place. The gaze of his seemingly visor-less helmet swept through the stands as the eager students entered and took their seats. His keen and honed eyes picked up the excited gleams on the children's faces, clearly seeing their eagerness to be under his tutelage.

The Titan was tempted to scoff. Those children would soon learn otherwise like many other Guardians before them. He glanced at the blonde Huntress beside him, who matched his stare with a look full of warning.

Of course, the Crucible Handler was told that he was strictly forbidden from using his usual methods on their students in spite of how effective they were nor was he allowed to present the class a video of it either after the two assigned combat instructors went over their lesson plans.

The Titan thought he had convinced the obstinate woman with the video until it got to the part where it showed Shaxx melting the flesh off of one of his Guardian students with his Solar flames. Professor didn't even let the video reach the best part where he ripped off the arm of another Guardian, which he then he used to beat the aforementioned Guardian to death with, before the Huntress turned green and vehemently told him that he was never allowed to do their students here in Beacon.

The Crucible handler didn't really see what was the problem with the video. He held the firm belief that the threat of an agonizing death was a great motivator for students to succeed especially in their line of work. The human will to survive always managed to find a way after all.

Besides, Lord Shaxx wasn't actually going to inflict such torture on the Huntsmen and Huntresses in training since they weren't Guardians that could just resurrect themselves from death. Maybe just mentally prepare them for possible those eventualities with the video that he compiled.

However, Goodwitch was adamant that he didn't. Since she was the higher authority in training future Huntsmen, Shaxx had to concede to her wishes. They did come to a compromise though because both of them could agree that the students needed to step up their training even further.

The headmasters of the combat schools along with their faculty were already made aware of the kinds of dangers lurking from beyond Remnant other than the Vex during the past month so the adult defenders of Remnant knew how wholly unprepared they were in comparison to the Last City.

"Settle down, class," Professor Goodwitch ordered as the students immediately hushed any conversations that they were having, "I know a lot of you are eager to begin but I expect some decorum from you students before we begin."

"After all, this is Lord Shaxx's first time meeting you children. It would not be in your best interest to have such a rocky first impression with him."

"It is alright, Professor Goodwitch," Shaxx assured as he nodded his helmet cladded head at her, "Words mean little to me. It is through one's actions that their character could be judged from."

"Then I hope for your sakes that your actions will speak for yourselves, class," the blonde combat instructor remarked before she stepped to the side, giving the floor for the Guardian.

"I care not for your reasons for fighting," Shaxx began as his gaze swept through the collection of students who fidgeted nervously under his scrutiny, "Whether you desire glory, fame or the mere thrill of it, it matters little. What matters are the decisions you make and the actions that follow for they are a reflection of who you truly are."

"You've seen for yourselves the horrors of war, the deaths of the innocents and of your comrades. You have faced many hard fought battles only to know that it will only get more difficult from here on. I would not blame you if you now sought to distance yourselves from the dangers and settle down to a life of peace."

"And yet, here you all gathered before me so that you could continue to fight in spite of what you've faced and will face. You decided to take up arms and continue the bout no matter what. That is a decision that I can respect. All that is left for you to do is to accept the actions that follow."

"So let us begin."

00000

Flynt Coal was described by many of his peers back at Atlas Academy as a 'cool fellow'. He possessed a more serious and placid personality in contrast to his partner, Neon Katt who was more bubbly and upbeat. He also had the habit to take a lot of things in stride that most people would have lost their heads over.

The proof that aliens exist? Flynt simply shrugged and wondered about the kinds of alien music out there.

The subsequent alien invasion? More enemies to pit his fighting/music skills against.

Immortal warriors that could come back from beyond the grave? As long as those same immortal warriors didn't try to eat his brains or whatnot, Flynt was down with it.

Fighting said immortal warrior in a spar to gauge his and his team's relative strengths and weaknesses? Sure, what was the worst that could happen?

Apparently, that was the one where Flynt lost his ever-present cool as his back painfully crashed into the wall of the arena. The Atlesian student slid off the wall and fell to the floor face first in a crumpled heap, his trusty trumpet slipping from his fingers after he was sent flying. He raised his head and saw through bleary eyes the unconscious bodies of two of his teammates in Team FNKI. From his peripheral vision, he could see the last remaining member other than him was the cat faunus, Neon.

Neon zoomed across the battlefield on her rollerblades, leaving a trail of neon colored rainbows in her wake as she flew circles around their opponent. The girl slung her usual taunts and insults at their adversary in an attempt to throw them off their concentration but to no effect as the figure showed no outward reaction and remained content to watch the cat faunus roll past him. However, Flynt could tell how nervous the cat faunus was despite her seemingly carefree façade and the enemy's wordless stare merely added to it.

His continued silenced won out and Neon was the one who lost patience.

The female Atlesian student flipped the dial on her nunchakus, activating the ice Dust stored within the weapon as the weapon glowed a bright blue. Spinning the nunchakus in a circle to gather power for her blow, she rushed at the Guardian and swung her Dust-enhanced weapon at one of his arms, hoping to disable one of her opponent's limbs by encasing it in ice.

Her plans immediately went awry as the Guardian quickly ducked under the blow and stomped his foot into the ground before her with such force that it destabilized her footing. Neon didn't have the time to cry out in surprise as the Guardian's hand lashed out and grabbed her by the throat while his other hand tore the nunchakus from her grip. Neon's legs kicked out ineffectively as her opponent lifted her into the air by the neck, her Aura being the only thing that kept her from choking in the Guardian's grasp.

"Disrupting your enemy's concentration with taunts is a sound strategy but you should take heed to not let your own words do the same to you when that strategy fails you, Ms. Katt," Lord Shaxx said to the struggling faunus girl in his grasp, "It's best to not be riled up as easily as your opponents."

"While your chosen… footwear does allow you to outmaneuver the opposition, the slightest misstep would send you tumbling out of balance as I have just demonstrated," the Crucible handler continued as he held Neon at arm's length, preventing her from kicking at him with her relatively shorter legs, "And because of those, it takes a marginally longer time for you to regain your footing. That time gap could mean the difference between victory or defeat."

With startling dexterity, the veteran Titan spun the pilfered nunchakus and tossed the faunus girl into the air before bringing the nunchakus down on her midsection. The Dust stored within the weapon immediately took effect and encased the girl in a thick block of ice from the neck down, thus taking her out of the fight.

Ignoring the Atlesian student's stuttering protests, Lord Shaxx stepped past the ice block and approached Flynt, who had just finished getting his second wind, at a leisurely pace. The Titan flipped the dial on the nunchakus, causing it to glow a bright red as he swapped the ice Dust for fire. He then slammed the rod into the floor, sending a wave of fire towards the leader of Team FNKI.

Biting back a curse and spotting his weapon, Flynt rolled to side and snatched the trumpet from where it rested on the floor. Transitioning into a crouch, he placed the mouthpiece over his lips and blew into the instrument as hard he could, playing a single note instead of an actual melody in favor for sheer concussive power.

Flipping the dial to another Dust vial, Lord Shaxx spun the nunchakus around with such masterful coordination as if he had wielded it for years instead of the scant few seconds that he had it in his hands. Now glowing a bright green, the nunchakus met the sonic waves from Flynt's weapon head on.

Most people would have thought the Titan to be foolhardy to meet and attack composed of concussive sound waves with brute force but the veteran Guardian did indeed have a plan for this situation.

Flynt Coal's weapon was able to wield sound itself as a weapon, something that would have been difficult to defend against. However, sound, no matter the decibel or frequency, required the air to travel from one place to another so a strong enough wind could disrupt and maybe even cancel out the sound waves entirely.

It just so happened that the weapon Shaxx pilfered came equipped with a vial of wind Dust. With a small application from his Light to augment the Dust, the Titan created a concentrated hurricane to shatter through the Atlesian student's sound waves attack. Shock at his attack being suddenly thwarted, Flynt took the full brunt of the buffeting winds and was smashed into the wall of the arena once again before falling to the ground flat on his face.

"And while your weapon of choice does possess its own uniqueness, it forces you to remain rooted to one spot, making you an immobile target," Lord Shaxx said as he tossed the nunchakus to the side, "Even with your semblance, you can only face one direction and not all of your foes will decide to face your assault head on like I have."

Flynt Coal's trumpet may have been formidable in combat but it required him to stay rooted in place in order to not be blown back by the backlash of his own weapon. While his Killer Quartet semblance gave him a wider range of attack, it still faced only one direction so a much more agile and stealthy opponent could evade his sight and strike him from behind.

Or what like Shaxx just did, counter with a superior blow to knock him out.

"Using rhythm to coordinate your team's synergy is well thought out. Many fireteams of Guardians had done the same in the past," the Titan added as the leader of Team FNKI groaned in pain while his body flashed in a shimmer of color, signaling that he was out of Aura, "But in the end, a rhythm is a pattern and patterns can be exploited. You also did not take into account of your rhythm being compromised and thus failed to adapt."

"It may have led you this far but it will not always save you. Take this to heart, Mr. Coal."

Flynt pushed himself up into a sitting position as he mulled over the words of the Titan and the previous battle.

In the beginning of the spar, Team FNKI seemingly had the Crucible handler on the ropes with their superb teamwork as all the Titan did was defend himself from the students' onslaught, not even retaliating. That was until Shaxx completely disrupted the Atlesian team's beat by instantly incapacitating half of their members.

It wasn't because the Titan used his overwhelming strength and powers. It was because he was able to out maneuver them with sheer skill and experience as he calmly studied and dissected Team FNKI's strengths and weaknesses during the period where they briefly held the illusion of an advantage before he abruptly shattered it.

Hell, the stunt that Shaxx did with the wind Dust wasn't even that advance since a second or third year student specializing in Dust could pull the same thing off if they were willing to expend that much Dust in one go.

While Lord Shaxx did crush Team FNKI in combat, he did by mainly relying on skill with only the slightest hints of carefully applied brute force. It was like he was the surgeon and the arena was the operating table.

"These words are not exclusively for Team FNKI. I wish for you as well to heed my lessons," Shaxx declared, addressing the observing students who were starting to show signs of nervous apprehension from witnessing such a brutal takedown. Their fears were well justified by the next words that came out of the Titan's mouth.

"Alright, who wishes to be next?"

00000

Mountain Glenn was Vale's first major attempt at expansion. It would have been a turning point for the people of Remnant if another major city like Vale was built but this moment of hope turned into tragedy when the Grimm overran the city. The denizens of the ruined city tried to flee through the underground tunnels only to discover that those same tunnels were to be their grave.

The despair of those who lost their lives on that tragic event could still be felt to this very day and in turn, attracted the Grimm by the hundreds if not thousands. The former human dwellings was now a sanctuary for the soulless creatures of Darkness. A fact made known by the numerous Grimm wandering the ruined city.

Prometheus-23 surveyed all of this from his perch on one of the tallest buildings. His senses were attuned to the world around him, cutting through the permuting Darkness that attempted whisper unintelligibly at the back of his mind. The Exo drew upon the mental lessons that Lord Shaxx instilled into him as he settled into a meditative state. His optics slid open when he heard the familiar voice of his faithful companion call out to him.

His Ghost, Pandora had already finished providing the Titan with a holographic layout of the ruined city with shades of red that denoted the varying concentrations of Grimm in the area. The Titan discovered that he was in the area with the second largest gathering of Grimm, the first being the underground network of tunnels that laid beneath them.

The reason for Prometheus' presence in Mountain Glenn was because he was under orders from both the Vanguard and the Council of Vale. With the aid of immortal warriors that never tire like the Guardians, the Council sought to reclaim the lands that were once theirs so a handful of Guardians (Prometheus included) and Huntsmen were assembled to undertake this ambitious endeavor.

Standing up, the Titan of Fireteam Nero reached behind him and unsheathed his sword, Time's Edge as the Vex forged blade erupted into the purple energies of the Void. He then proceeded to step off the edge of the building and let gravity take ahold of him. He let his body plummet through the air for half a minute before driving his sword into the side of the building that he was previously on, bleeding off his momentum until he came to a stop.

Kicking off the building, Prometheus hurled himself towards the ground where landed on top of an Ursa Major with his sword embedded into its skull, both killing the beast instantly and breaking his fall. Dislodging his weapon, the Titan jumped off the evaporating Grimm and turned to face the rest of the Grimm horde that he landed in the midst of.

The Titan swung Time's Edge several times, dismembering Beowolves, Creeps and Ursi alike as he systematically slaughtered the creatures of Darkness. As he sliced another Creep in half, the ground beneath his feet began to crack before a King Taijutu suddenly emerged from below and engulfed the Guardian within its maw.

The giant snake Grimm didn't have time to celebrate over the apparent demise of the Guardian as the sharp tip of Time's Edge erupted from its throat in a shower of gore before the blade slid around the width of the neck, effectively decapitating the beast. Standing up from the severed neck of the Grimm, Prometheus peered into sky and noticed a flock of Nevermores heading his way.

The second head of the King Taijutu appeared and lunged at the Titan in retaliation for its other head. Energies of Void started to gather over Prometheus' left arm as he held out that same arm in front of him to meet the quickly approaching Grimm.

In the next moment, the giant snake Grimm unexpectedly lost its fangs as a violet flat and round object collided with the side of its face in a vicious bash. The creature was not allowed time to regain its bearings as Time's Edge relieved the King Taijutu of its second head.

Prometheus whipped his sword to the side in an instinctual habit to remove the dirt on its blade as his other arm wielded another object that emitted the power of Void.

The object in question was a large round shield with a spiraling patterns of vines engraved on the surface. It was also no mere shield for it was entirely composed of pure Void into a solidified construct. This was the evolved version of Prometheus' personalized Ward of Dawn, the Sentinel Shield.

And the Grimm of Mountain Glenn were the perfect enemies to test the Titan's new weapons on.

00000

Omake: Kindred Spirits Pt. 2

"Hey there, everyone! The name's Taiyang Xiao Long," the elder yellow dragon introduced himself as he stood in the center of a stage. He also appeared to have replaced his shirt with one that was multicolored through tie dye, "And I want to give a shout out to all the sidewalks out there for _keeping me off the streets_."

"Hello, I'm his daughter, _Tie_ Yang," Yang Xiao Long slid onto the stage with her arms spread out in an exaggerated pose while notably wearing a big bowtie around her neck, "Talk about starting things off with a _Yang_ , am I right?"

(Cue the groans)

"Let's not forget about me!" Summer exclaimed as she materialized in a flurry of white rose petals, "I'm Summer Rose and I'm here to test your _petal_."

"Summer!" Tai gasped in mock surprise as he drew back from the white cladded Guardian, "What are you doing here?"

"You're supposed to be dead!" Yang exclaimed as she pointed theatrically at the young Hunter.

"I guess you can say," Summer paused for dramatic effect before throwing the audience a saucy grin and a wink, "I _Rose_ from the dead."

"Someone please kill me now," Ruby whined as she buried her face in her hands to hide herself from the nightmarish scene playing out before her.


	23. I am so sorry

AN:

Oh my god, I am so sorry. I know I said that I'll update this story every two weeks but my computer crashed at the worst possible moment, losing all of my progress in the process. So not only do I have to write everything all over again but I don't even have a computer anymore to do so. I also don't have money to either have it fixed or buy a new one. I had to resort to going to an internet cafe to inform you guys.

To my deepest regret, Remnant of an Iron Rose would have to be put into a hiatus until I find a more convenient means to work on new chapters.

Again, I'm really sorry for this.


	24. Merry Dawning

AN: Sorry for not updating but it's been a pretty hectic year for me so writing fanfics wasn't really a priority for me at the moment. However, I would he a dick move to leave you guys hanging on Christmas so here's a short chapter of content that a lot of people kept asking me to make. Here's the return of the list of things that Summer Rose is no longer allowed to do with a little bonus.

81\. Guardian Summer Rose is now forbidden from ever approaching a tank let alone driving one.

"Summer, get the fuck out the tank!" Lux roared at the tank that her partner was currently hiding in.

"Shut up, you're not my mom," Summer shot back as she popped her head out of the tank before slipping back inside the armored vehicle.

"I might as well be! Get out of the tank!"

"No, you're not my mom!"

"Get out of the tank!"

"I'm in a tank and you're not!"

Lux Sylphid - When confronted by the words "I'm in a tank and you're not!", the correct response isn't to get a tank of your own and engage in a tank on tank battle with the offender. (It sure was one hell of a show though - Cayde-6)

82\. Many would balk at the face of a Hive Ogre so hanging a picture of its face over someone while they sleep is not conductive behavior.

83\. I belive we said the same thing with Guardian Elvis Presley but please leave Guardian Stan Lee alone.

84\. Yes, we are all aware of the one known as Santa Claus but perhaps you should have done more research on what he actually looked like before going out dressed as what you thought as him. You traumatized a lot of children with your costume.

"I don't get it. I thought kids loved this guy during the pre-Golden Age," Summer looked at the terrified children in confusion.

"Um, Summer? I don't think this Santa is supposed to have horns, sharp teeth and cloven feet," Prometheus-23 noted as he took out a picture of a jolly old man in a red winter suit.

"Really? Then who am I dressed up as?"

"Krampus."

85\. Teaching children how to shoot a gun during the Dawning is not an acceptable activity.

"Alright kids, the first the thing you have to know about gun safety is to always keep the safety on when not in u-"

 _ **BANG!**_

"OW! BLEEPINGing hell, Summer!"

"Hey, don't look at me. Tucker here didn't listen to me about gun safety!"

86\. Nor is any other time of the year should you teach children how to use a gun.

 _ **BANG!**_

"Ah! What do I look like to you, brats!? A BLEEPing magnet for bullets!"

87\. Again, we would like to commend you for installing a censor mod in Guardian Lux Sylphid's helmet.

88\. Yes, your fireteammates do have other friends besides you and each other. It's only fair that you give them some space from time to time. You don't wish for Guardian Lux Sylphid to suddenly snap and try to kill you again, correct?

"Give me reason!" Lux shrieked as she held Summer up by the scruff of her cloak and pressed her gun, Hawkmoon into the Hunter's forehead, "Just give me a fucking reason! I dare you! I double fucking dare you!"

89\. If you wish to visit your friends at their homes, do look up up their addresses on the directory instead of barging into random houses until you find the right one.

 _ **BANG!**_

"I'm bored!" Summer announced as she stepped through the door that she just kicked down, "Entertain me!"

"Who are you and what are you doing in my house!?"

"Dangit, got the wrong place again," the Hunter clicked her tongue in disappointment before leaving the stranger's house.

 _ **BANG!**_

"I'm bored! Entertain me!"

"What the hell!?"

90\. We know that Cayde-6 of the Vanguard is your mentor but you should not take after his gambling habits. (At least know how to rigg the game properly before you do - Cayde-6)


	25. I have bad news for you guys

It's official. The world really hates me.

I have been feeling pretty sick lately so I went to the doctor for a checkup only to later discover some really, really bad news.

I have cancer. What a great way to start the year, right?

Because I'm gonna be busy going through chemo treatment, I'm forced to put this story up for adoption. Either I get better eventually or I don't. I still want the Remnant of a Rose series to continue though even if I'm not the one writing it.


	26. This has been adopted

This story already has been adopted by FireteamNero, a group of authors who decided to work together.


End file.
